When I was growing up, I didn’t really have much of a work ethic. I didn’t get my first job until the summer before my first year at college. My second job was only a month. My third was only three months long. I didn’t have a real job until I started my first retail position at DSW my sophomore year of college, where I was employed for over a year.

After at being DSW for a while, I became really unhappy with my job. A lot of my friends had left, management had plummeted and I was disgusted with how I was being treated by customers. Not to mention trying to live on your own with a part time position making only $9 an hour was quite impossible. So, my roommate ended up convincing me to apply for the company she works for, and I was kind of scared to. This job had nothing to do with customers, or registers, or shoes, or food; it had to do with people. It had to do with taking care of people with disabilities.

It was extremely intimidating knowing that I was now in charge of people’s lives. It wasn’t just driving them around and cooking them meals, but it was being in charge of making sure they got their medications were given at the right time with the correct dosage or else something could happen. I wasn’t dealing with people’s money anymore, I was dealing with their health. And I was so scared of messing that up. But, you know what’s funny?

The very job I was scared to have is the very thing that saved my life.

When I first started, I wasn’t in a good place. I was in an extreme depression, having anxiety attacks left and right and had no confidence in myself when it came to the job. I was terrified that the women I worked for wouldn’t like me, and I would just do everything wrong. It got to a point where I was on one of my first shifts and already researching another job because I felt like I couldn’t do it. But sticking around was the greatest thing that could’ve happened to me.

Within a few short weeks, I felt my spirits being lifted every time I walked through the door. I walk into the house to have the girls greeting me with gigantic hugs, like they hadn’t seen me in months. I walk into updates on their days at work and the new men in their lives (seriously, these women have more active love lives than me in all of 20 years I’ve lived). I get to see the huge smile that comes across their face when I tell them we’re going to go to the movies, or I offer to take them to go to lunch.

Just looking at these incredible women I work for, put things into perspective for me. I mean, these women all have something that can hold them back in life. They each have a disability that could stop them in more ways than one from having a real life, but they don’t. These women have learned how to do for themselves, and have learned how to make the most out of their disability. They don’t let it discourage them or see it as a setback but more of just a small part of who they are. They recognize their strengths and focus on them, rather than focusing on a disability and viewing it as a sign of weakness. In the almost five months I’ve been working for these women, I have never heard a single complaint. I have never seen somebody break down over their disability. All I’ve seen are grins from ear to ear, laughs that could fill an entire stadium, and the most beautiful hearts I could have ever come across.

As I mentioned earlier, I was going through a rough time when I first started. I had a lot of problems within myself that I felt couldn’t get better, but this job honestly saved me. It saved me from thinking so negatively about a variety of situations I was in. It helped me appreciate the beautiful life that I’m grateful to have and still be living today. It taught me to not take certain privileges I have for granted. It helped me to become a better person. I was a pretty caring person before, but I feel as if I’m more compassionate. I’m more of a helper. I enjoy being there for people more than I had before. It made me feel thankful for those who I have around me. Overall, it just made me happier. I think being around so much positivity (in a place where there could be nothing but negative energy) is something that was good for me.

A lot of people tell me that I’m an angel for what I do. I get a lot of “I could never have the patience for that,” and “Wow you must be such a caring person then.” But really, at the end of the day, I’m just helping a few women get by, like we all do with our own friends or family members in our everyday lives. And soon enough, these women became like my family, and I would do anything for them.

So, thank you, girls. I truly don’t know where I would be right now without you.