In the Thick of It!

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In The Thick Of It

John Paul Derryberry

As I wind down my forty-second birthday, a conversation I had when I was 24 is on my mind. I distinctly remember a veteran staff member discussing how my joy for my job and chosen field would eventually wear off. Their matter-of-fact tone singed the conversation into my memory. It was a late night after a rough shift, and we were well into an hour of all the required documentation when the night went sideways. We were supposed to leave 45 minutes ago and were looking at another 45 minutes until everything was completed. This grizzled veteran made a lot of sense with her points and counterpoints to my rebuttals.

Only one section of my words raged against her rant that she couldn't explain away. I immensely enjoyed being in the thick of it:

  • The constant problem-solving

  • The setbacks

  • The screw-ups

  • The growth, either for my clients or me

I crave more knowledge and training and, more importantly, a greater understanding of why people do what they do. But I have been drawn to curious and grit-minded people for a long time. I love those inspiring few who stay in the thick of it without throwing in the towel. Folks who come up with different solutions, rage against the constant complaint culture, and refuse to swim in the pool where it's always someone else's responsibility to fix the problem.

It doesn't guarantee success, and it absolutely guarantees failure. But staying engaged in the process means not falling victim to numerous cultural pitfalls we often do not see: complacency, blaming, giving up, and, at some point, being a version of ourselves that we do not recognize. Few people chose their career field by stating I can't wait to throw in the towel on this choice. We do it because we are trending toward a culture where you are either right or wrong, and we are losing the inability to admit we were wrong. If it's hard, we should not try. It is because we select withdrawing from being in the thick of the action.  

Yet it's always best to be filled with people who want to solve problems, even though they know some solutions won't work. The process of working out solutions informs future possibilities. So on and so on until we solve the issue or hand it to the next person. We must ensure the next person is always willing to be in the thick of it. Because all these years later, I still find joy in working with others to solve problems as long as they stand beside me in the middle of it!