I know there are people who are very strict or specific about when the Christmas season starts. Some will argue that putting up your tree before Thanksgiving or decorating for Christmas at all before Thanksgiving takes away from the Thanksgiving celebration. For me, the Christmas sock season starts on November 1, and I was grateful for the start of the Christmas sock season this year. Don’t worry. If you’re not quite ready to begin the Christmas season, this post isn’t all about Christmas socks or even the Christmas season.
The Process
In August, I started the process of applying for a job I felt very strongly about applying for. In a sense, it had been something that I’d been thinking about for about two years. I didn’t feel fully qualified to apply, so when I’d first started thinking about it, I’d brushed off the feeling of looking into this position more. Then last spring, an opportunity to apply for this job came up. I almost applied at that time, and then psyched myself out, convincing myself that I’d be horrible at it. I hadn’t mentioned my feelings about this job to anyone. About a week later, a family member casually mentioned that I should try for this specific job. She thought I’d be good at it. At that time, I decided I’d just go for it the next time they were hiring.
Fast forward to August. They were again hiring for this job. No, it’s not a job with a huge turnover. It’s just a job where they regularly hire new people. I went forward with the application. Along the way, there were a few hurdles that I thought would prevent me from finishing the application process, but things were looking good.
This was not a simple fill out the application, have a short (or even a long) interview, and either get hired or not get hired process. It was hours of training and work over a three-week period. I was invested in the application process. In mid-September, they told us we’d get an email telling us the results by the first week in November. While I had allowed my insecurities to lead to doubt, I actually felt really good about it. After all, I knew I was inspired to apply for this job.
The Wait
Even though we’d been told we’d know the results of the hiring process by the first week in November, I kept hoping it would happen sooner than that. Then on Halloween, I saw the email. While I was a bit nervous, I knew I’d felt inspired to apply for this job. Heavenly Father wouldn’t inspire me to apply for a job if I wasn’t going to get it, right? Well, maybe He would. The email said that they were not going to go forward with the hiring process with me. To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement. I’d really thought this was the next path I needed to take in my life.
Christmas Sock Season Realization
I woke up the next morning feeling disappointed, discouraged, and a little negative about the future. Then I remembered it was November 1st. This might sound like such a small, maybe even dumb thing, but I got excited. I really like Christmas socks. Maybe, I’m even a bit obsessed with them. A few years ago, I decided November 1st was the beginning of Christmas sock season. That is when I can start wearing Christmas socks. If I’m wearing socks in November or December, there’s a very good chance that they are either Christmas socks or some sort of slipper sock.
It’s amazing to me how much just realizing it was Christmas sock season brightened my day. It reminded me that it’s important to be grateful, even when life isn’t going your way. Sure, I’d lost out on a job that I really wanted, but at least it’s Christmas sock season.
My Disappointment
I’ll be honest, not getting this job was probably the most disappointing thing that’s happened in my life in several years. I felt inspired to apply for that job. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it when I first applied, but as I continued the process, I got more and more excited about it. Along with that, I had several moments where I felt like something that had happened previously now made sense because that needed to happen to guide me to this job. I felt good about how I’d done. I felt the most positive that I’d felt about my life in a very long time.
Not getting the job was a blow to my self-esteem as well as a bit of a spiritual hit. I’ve cried a bit about the job rejection, wondered why I felt so strongly about applying, and obsessed over what I could have done wrong. It hasn’t been a fun process.
Focus on Gratitude
Yesterday, I realized another reason to feel gratitude. This year, I’ve been recording tender mercies that I encounter in my life as well as tenders mercies I notice in the “Come Follow Me” scripture readings each week. I have a workbook where I record these tender mercies. While there have been weeks that are close, up until last week, the number of tender mercies I found in the scriptures each week exceeded the number of tender mercies I noticed in my own life that week.
On Sunday, I realized I had eight tender mercies for the week. Up to that point, I’d had a few weeks where I’d recorded five or six tender mercies in my life. I’m sure I’d regularly missed some, and there were probably weeks where I could have easily recorded way more than I did.
During a difficult week where I’d missed out on a job opportunity that I really wanted, it was nice to see that list of tender mercies. They were small things, such as being able to get “Savior of the World” tickets right away when they became available on Wednesday morning. Actually, that felt like a big thing. A few years ago, I spent nearly an hour trying to get them and still was not able to get any. The point, though, to me was that the small tender mercies add up.
A Season of Gratitude
As we enter November and December, for many people, this is a season of gratitude. With Thanksgiving and Christmas upon us, it’s often a bit easier to focus on gratitude. Yet, you are going to face disappointments in life, whether during this season or during other parts of your life. There might be moments in your life when you’ll have to say to yourself, “Well, at least it’s Christmas sock season,” or whatever phrase you’ll need to use to bring a little bit of positivity into your life. I hope we can all find those tiny bits of good in the days, weeks, months, or even years of disappointment and discouragement.
