Change Equals Inspiration

by Leslie Müller

 

Starting from the bottom is never easy. Change is sometimes necessary, sometimes scary, sometimes good, and sometimes not so much. Whatever one of these it is it is most guaranteed to be a challenge!

I’ve been a dispatcher for sixteen years, and 99.9% of it I have worked in a combined communications center dispatching Police and Fire for municipal agencies. Almost one year ago, I was blessed with an opportunity of a lifetime. An opportunity that I was told would make me feel as if I had “won the lottery.”

I was happy where I was and working with the people that I did, but the low pay, weak contract negotiations, and small budget the city was operating on, it was getting scary. With a son about to start college, an aging Mother needing some financial help, and a household to run, the wallet was stretching a little thin, and there was not much reprieve in sight, so I went for it!

After the usual oral board interview, background check, and Chief’s interview, I was offered and of course accepted the position of Fire Dispatcher. Yes, that’s right, FIRE DISPATCHER! Sounded like an easy enough transition. Needless to say, I have been very humbled. Starting over in a new place was not foreign to me, but all of the new things I had to learn, and being a trainee, and probationary employee again at this point in my career, was off the charts! No longer was I the sharp, talented 20 something year old that started back in the day and could remember everything, and memorize anything in a matter of hours. I was struggling with new streets, new map, hundred blocks, policies, procedures, etc. AND not to mention, resource ordering, strike teams, FMAG’s, ICS209…… the list goes on. I had not only accepted a new job, I entered a new world.

Don’t get me wrong, I am certainly not ungrateful, and I absolutely LOVE where I am, but it has been somewhat of an uphill climb. My point to this whole story is this…. If you feel you are capable of taking a chance, taking a risk, possibly improving or enhancing your career, no matter at what point that may be, don’t hesitate, just GO FOR IT!

You only have one life, so live it! Have confidence in yourself and your abilities, be a good person, teach others everything you know, and remember that everything happens for a reason!

 

 

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