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Have we talked about how life is crazy yet?

A little over a year ago, I was sleeping with my phone in case I got a call at 4:30 a.m. telling me my store wasn’t open.

And although those phone calls didn’t happen often, sprinkle in dealing with the occasional call off—or anyone else’s crisis du jour—and you have the life of a retail manager. It’s not a bad gig. I can’t complain, but after a few years, this can be exhausting… not to mention less than rewarding.

If you would have told me then that in a year I would be halfway through my dream graduate program, on the first day of my dream internship, I wouldn’t have believed you.

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Anyway, I’m not saying this to brag about myself, because I had a lot of help along the way. The point is, I wish I could have known about this on the really dark days I felt like giving up. Hopefully, someone out there can be encouraged to continue working hard to pursue a dream—even when they can’t see past that 4:30 a.m. wake up call.