Mentoring Opportunity

1.23.14

     I have been really blessed in my career in that I got a pretty kick butt job right out of college. I had a lot of bumps in the road learning to navigate all the politics of a first job, and I learned those lessons along side David in a very high-stress, high-reward kind of job.
     I changed jobs when I was 7 weeks pregnant to my new job. About the same pay, same area, less stress and less work, to be honest. Its been awesome.
     I got an email from my sales rep asking me if I would be interested in mentoring a girl that is just starting with the company who is also straight out of college. Basically, being a guide to help her get through the tough situations and be able to answer those questions of "How do I deal with so and so treating me like this?" I was flattered and excited! I really like to teach and mentor, I get a lot of personal satisfaction out of helping people grow. So immediately I said yes.
     My sales rep wrote a message to this girl's manager saying I was good to go to be her mentor, and setting up a time for us to meet that next weekend at the National Training Meeting in Florida. The next thing I know, I have an email back from her manager that says something like this:

     "Hi Amy,
           Thank you so much for agreeing to mentor Kaitlyn. I know that she will learn a lot from you. Let's meet up at the NTM so that you guys can work out a schedule for Kaitlyn to come shadow you."

     I was in the middle of a case when I read the email, and I about lost it. I hadn't talked to Alex about all of the mentoring thing yet, so I turned on my sales rep.
     Me: OF COURSE Her name is Kaitlyn! Freaking of COURSE it is.
     Rep: Oh my gosh Amy, I'm so sorry. I should have asked.
     Me: In what other sick world would that even matter? Its not your fault, I'm just irritated that I didn't even consider that her name would be Kaitlyn.
     Rep: You don't have to do it, you don't have to mentor her. Its not a big deal, there will be other people you can mentor.
     Me: Let me mull it over, I'll get back with you later this week...

     When I got home that night, I finally had a chance to catch Alex up. I was totally distraught because I was torn. I wanted to be a mentor and teach, but I also didn't want to put myself in a position to backslide and make it worse. Plus, I had already had some serious self-work to do with another Kaitlyn  and I didn't really want to go through all that again.
      "You can't shun everyone named Kaitlyn for the rest of your life..." said Alex when I got done heaving up the story.

Ugh.

        "I know," I said quietly back to him.
        "That's letting it beat you. You can't do that," he repeated.
 
       I knew he was right, but I didn't like it. I had a decision to make, and I couldn't even make it right then. I decided to leave my emotions where they were for the time being, and I would meet this new Kaitlyn girl and decide if I was mentally ready to have her with me for a few days at work.