Guest Blogger: Big Changes Coming by the Dog Walker

Mom has asked me to write a blog post for her, because she wasn't quite sure what to write about next and besides, she's still trying to heal up from her surgery. It's been hard for her to having to wear a boot on her foot and to ride on a scooter in order to move about. Anyway, besides that, I've been having some things happening with me lately. It would seem that not everybody is used to the idea of change.

 Ever since I passed my Capstone class with my book, I've been waiting to see if I had a solid GPA for the semester so that I could graduate from UVU with my Bachelor's degree. Even though Mom said that I had graduated, I wasn't sure until I saw proof. As a matter of fact, yesterday the certificate came to the house and Mom was so proud of me! She and Drama Queen have also helped revise my resume so that it can be used for applying for a job that is suitable to my degree.

Mom heard that South Jordan Middle School had a job opening for someone like me to help out with a special needs class as a teacher assistant.. Mom and Dad were quite excited for me to apply, however, I was only slightly excited, because I wasn't quite sure about working two jobs at the same time. Even if I got the job, I would still work at Walmart and so I could have insurance for me and my wife.

I went in for the job interview and I did the best I could to impress the principal and teachers who were there to ask me questions about my career and my resume. Even though I was trying my best to answer questions, it felt like I blew it when they asked me if I could work 17 hours a week. I was a bit worried about working 40 hours full time at Walmart and working 17 hours part time at SoJo. I wrote an email to them after getting more information from Mom about how this could work for me. I don't know if they want to hire me yet, but I'm hoping they'll let me know soon.

I've been worried and stressed out about how I can deal with this kind of change in my life, but after looking through some memories that I have from the time I was working on the merit badges in the Boy Scouts program, it has helped me realize that I still can make a lot of changes in my life, even if it's a hard and scary thing to do. My mom also told me that if I'm hired to work at SoJo part time, I will gain a lot of experience for being a teacher's aid and that it will eventually become a success and I might possibly work full-time with the school district and eventually be able to stop working for Walmart.

I've been trying to feel less stressed out about these big changes coming into my life, because as for me being an autistic person, the stress I sometimes get is very severe, but I try not to stress out too much about things, otherwise, I would go into anxiety mode and feel like I failed so much in my life. But I just need to remember that I have made a lot of big changes in my life and they're worth it. Even when life is hard, and you feel like you're not ready for a big change, I have some important advice.

Look into your memories and see all the big changes you've already faced and be happy with them. That's a good way to help you overcome your anxiety about change and you'll able to move on. I hope this will work out for me and for everybody else who's still struggling with change because change is going to happen no matter what we do, so we better figure out a way to make them be good changes.