Elation.

That was my first emotion upon reading the notification email - elation.

For four years, I had applied to an incredible program where I work. The program is one of corporate citizenship that would allow me to travel to an emerging market somewhere in the world and be a part of a team that would help to solve a problem of local impact in the region, that could benefit and have positive influence.

In three attempts to apply, once a year for three years, each time I received a communication that thanked me for applying, but that stated they were choosing someone else. My first time in applying, when I received that 'Thanks for coming out' notice, I took it quite personally, and it devastated me, with its inferences that I didn't do quite enough and should consider doing more before applying again. I almost never applied the second time, but my manager at the time encouraged me to keep applying. I wasn't sure that I would try that again, but decided that I needed to not give up, and focused on how important this program was. For the years that followed, I continued to work hard and attempted to not only meet, but to exceed the criteria expected of applicants for this program. Applying required essays to be written, among other criteria, so there was more effort needed than just submitting your name to sign up.

In my fourth year of applying, I received a slightly different notification to my application. This time it seemed that I was one step closer, or at least that was my hope. The communication said that I was not awarded an assignment, but my application was strong enough to merit being put on a wait list. I was not holding out much hope on getting assigned, only being put on a wait list, but felt encouraged to apply for a fifth year if I didn't hear of anything in the meantime.

A whole year passed, and there was no word of being assigned from the wait list, so I decided to apply for a fifth time, as the annual window of applying in the Spring is quite short, and I thought I had come close the last time, so why not take yet another try at this? When I went to the web site to apply and get the essay questions to respond to, there was a notice saying that if you had applied and been put on a wait list, you should not re-apply. Drats! Although I had come close in being wait-listed, now I couldn't even apply for the current round of applications! I left the site, and did not think much about it as the year progressed, as life and work were too busy to delve on waiting for something that might not happen.

It was not until that year was almost over, when out of nowhere I received a plain looking email that had a subject line message essentially saying congratulations I had been assigned. As I read that, I felt elation, and read it again, to be sure that it was what I thought it was. After 4 times of applying, and 5 years of waiting, I 'suddenly' was assigned. It is like those overnight success stories that you hear about, where it takes years for things to align and then suddenly they do and, WOW!

And so, with receiving the 'you are in' notification that I was so yearning for, and feeling elated at getting assigned to the region that I had most wanted to go to (Africa), I was finally ready to embark on a journey of a lifetime and of a career.

In this blog, My African Journey, I will share some of the personal aspects of my journey experience. If you are interested in the business aspect to the program, I will share that separately in my other blog Between me and you (https://debtempleton.wordpress.com/).

This is an exciting opportunity, which has shown me that:
- not everything happens as quickly as I want sometimes
- it is important to try, try, try, and try again
- giving up is not an option for the really important things, and reveals opportunity for building resilience
- reaching for those things beyond my immediate grasp is important (if I never applied this would never happen)

This opportunity holds promise that it will be life-changing, and I can barely wait... although I will... for I have seen first-hand what waiting and patience can bring... so bring it on.