Favorite Parts Of Working In Government As A District Representative

I enjoy being close to the action. I think being right there when decisions are being made, and being younger than many of the people I work with, I felt growing up the effects of things I didn't understand.

Stuff that we signed up for, like being able to afford a house or not living in debt, I didn't understand why or how those things happened. I just would get mad or not understand it. Now that I'm more involved in the mechanics of how things are happening, you can be forgiving.

There's only so much, I don't want my taxes to go up, but I also want my ambulance to show up. So you have to juggle those things. It really is a business, but how to personally see things in a different way. How to have those hard questions answered within myself and say, "Am I living my best life?"

Who have I helped, and how am I helping? Is it what I want to stand for, what I believe? It's really helping me internally overcome any biases or belief structures that I might have. I figured maybe because of how I was raised, I learned if you solve your own problems, then you can help someone else solve similar problems.

So being that mentor, that guide, for people who are struggling, because I heard a quote one time: "A lot of us struggle to survive, but we forget that we are going to survive." Most likely we're going to survive, so why struggle in the process? Learn how to let go of that struggle.

That's the thing that I love about this job: learning from dozens, if not hundreds, of other people. The way they think, act, and solve problems, what their needs are, their hopes and dreams. And really helping connect the community to resources, or even just social groups or support groups, or like-mindedness together. Life's interesting. It's not always easy, but it could be a lot more fun for a lot of people.