Opinion: The Small Jobs That Rebuilt My Confidence

By Azadeh Ebrahim ADVERTISEMENT The first time I walked into a restaurant for a job interview, no one knew that just a few months earlier I had been attending professional meetings on urban sustainability projects. The manager had only one piece of advice for my first day: 'Wear comfortable clothes and comfortable shoes.' 'I will,' I replied. For him, it was just a simple reminder. For me, something much bigger was happening. I wasn't afraid of the work itself. I knew I could learn. I had spent years working, taking on responsibilities, managing people, and adapting to new situations. What frightened me wasn't the job. It was the fear that I might no longer be the person I used to be. What if all the experience I had worked so hard to build no longer mattered here? Would I ever return to my professional field? Would I be able to build the career I had dreamed of again? My mind was filled with questions I couldn't answer. On my first day, almost everything felt unfamiliar. Tasks that seemed routine to my coworkers were completely new to me. I didn't know how the kitchen operated, how dishes were prepared, or how everything fit together. The only moments when I felt a little more confident were when I helped the cashiers or carefully carried trays of food to customers. Every order I delivered correctly felt like passing a small test. To everyone else, it was just another workday. To me, every smile from a customer, every simple 'thank you,' and every mistake I managed not to repeat the next day reminded me that I was still capable of learning. ADVERTISEMENT When my shift ended, I went home more exhausted—and hungrier—than I had been in a long time. My feet ached after standing for hours. But for the first time in months, I felt strangely at peace. I had taken a small step forward. I hadn't spent the day worrying, waiting, or feeling sorry for myself. I had spent it moving. I wasn't where I wanted to be yet, but at least I was no longer standing still. Only a few months earlier, my days had been filled with online meetings about sustainability planning. Now I was wearing a restaurant uniform. At first glance, those two worlds couldn't have been more different. Yet they asked the same thing of me: Keep learning. A few months later, I accepted another part-time job at a clothing store. When my coworkers realized I was working two jobs, they often smiled and said, 'You're incredibly hardworking.' They admired my determination. What they couldn't see were the questions I still carried with me. Every time I stood behind the register or removed security tags from clothing, I quietly wondered: Would my next job be another one like this? Would I ever find my way back to the profession I had spent years building? Were these jobs only temporary stops along my journey? I didn't have the answers. In fact, I still didn't know exactly what the future would look like. But little by little, I realized that confidence isn't something we earn once and keep forever. Sometimes life asks us to build it all over again. Not with a job title. Not with a résumé. But by showing up every day. By continuing even when we're tired. By accepting our mistakes. And by having the courage to become beginners again. ADVERTISEMENT Working in a restaurant and later in a clothing store wasn't the career I had studied for or imagined for myself. But those jobs reminded me that a person's worth isn't defined by a title. I was still someone who could learn, work hard, take responsibility, and adapt to change. Those qualities hadn't disappeared. I simply had to rediscover them in a new place. Perhaps that is one of the greatest lessons starting over has taught me. Today, I no longer believe there is such a thing as a 'small job.' Some jobs provide an income. Others rebuild your confidence. And for someone starting life over from the very beginning, the second can be even more valuable than the first.