New Kid on the Block

Well, I’ve been at my new job for more than a week now, and I’ve got to say I’m tremendously happy to be at Trader. I’m doing work which I excel at, but which is also challenging and stimulating. I’m surrounded by great people.

Yet … I’m the “new kid in school.” I haven’t been in this situation for nine years. I find it hard to get to know people. My previous workplace was a call center, filled with noisy extroverts, and here, everyone’s as introverted as I am. I sometimes feel lonely, like I’m in a library with “cones of silence” around everyone. (Hmm . . . there’s a reason why I was never interested in becoming a Trappist!)

It takes time to make friends and get to know people.

Tonight, I watched the movie Joshua (closely based on the book by Fr. Girzone). Yes, it’s really heavy-handed and somewhat cheesy, as the book was, but surprisingly effective, too, thanks to the great performance by Tony Goldwyn as the title character.

But it made me think. What if I really cared only about loving, and not about being loved? What if I just saw my new workplace as 300 more people to love?

What’s not to love?