By Ryn Gargulinski

You can find bad bosses as easily as you can find mushy cucumbers in Florida or rats in New York City. But let’s not forget there are a ton of good bosses out there as well. OK, maybe not a ton. But enough to bring joy to our hearts, meaning to our work and a smile to our face every time we set out to work on a project for them.

In this season of gratitude, it’s time to acknowledge these wonderful mentors, teachers and supporters who are out there making work – and the world – more fun.

Like the man who opened the door to my full-time journalism career. Done with graduate school and working for an insurance agency, I had the biggest itch to be a full-time reporter. Since the “New York Post” never called me back, I started poking around at newspaper job openings in rural areas across the nation.

Most of my applications were met with radio silence or curt rejections. Except one in a place called Clovis. Clovis, New Mexico, to be exact. Not only did Editor-in-Chief David Stevens give me the chance to write a sample story to show what I could do, but he welcomed me to Clovis by treating me to lunch at Furr’s.

He also gave me a weekly column, an abundance of encouragement, and a massive crash course in all things newspaper – eventually honoring me with the position of managing editor of the Quay County Sun.

If you haven’t owned goats and lived in Tucumcari, you haven’t lived at all.

Another great boss was actually the CEO of the aforementioned insurance agency. Although my creative nature was not a good fit for the corporate-vibe office – and I ended up with a dress-code memo on my desk every Monday – Victor Mauro did what he could to make the place more intriguing for me.

He paid for the courses so I could get my own state license to sell life insurance. He gave me a huge title and an assistant. He brainstormed creative projects that were much more my style than filing insurance paperwork and sticking return labels on 506 Christmas cards. The sheer number of Christmas cards he sent out was testament to how much love and kindness he sent out all the time – although the return-label task was still quite a bear.

But you know what, I did it with glee. OK, maybe not quite glee – but with the idea that any task that helped such an open-hearted, generous man could not be TOTALLY horrible. Working with him was a joy, even if the job duties themselves were about as good a match as peanut butter and tuna fish.

A third boss that gets a big nod was yet another editor, city editor of the Tucson paper where I thought I would work forever until I retired. Alas, the big corporation that gobbled up the paper had other plans – killing off the paper about two years after I was hired.

It had been the oldest newspaper in the entire state of Arizona, one that came with a slew of amazing coworkers, top-notch editors – and an award-winning feature column from yours truly. My ability to make the most of the position was helped along by the ongoing guidance of Diane Luber.

She was open to creative story ideas, helped shape and deepen my writing, and taught me never to start any type of story with the phrase: “Imagine a world….” She also saw how hard I worked, how I’d scamper and scurry, keep grabbing for the next assignment. So one day looked me straight in the eye and said something like: “Stop. Just stop. Why don’t you relax for a minute?”

Wow is right. She helped me see that I had become a robotic human-doing instead of a happy being. She helped teach me to kick back a bit and enjoy the ride.

While I may have moved on from all of those positions, each and every one of those bosses retains a warm and fuzzy place in my heart. I’m guessing you may have had a few that have done the same.

This is a great thing to remember, especially if you’re currently under the charge of a boss that may be, well, less than ideal. Know that the current situation is not the end-all, be-all. Also keep in mind that we tend to get saddled with the same ole lessons in our lives until they actually sink in.

If your boss treats you like cat vomit, it may be time to examine your own feelings of self-worth. If they communicate less effectively than a dead gerbil, perhaps you are not speaking your own truth.

If they take advantage of your willingness to say yes to any given task, maybe you’ve fallen into the people-pleasing trap. And if you’re consistently disappointed by the lack of praise or encouragement, it may be time to stop looking to the outer world for validation.

Remember, too, that people treat us the way we let them. It may be time to take a stand, proclaim your worth, and move on to the next chapter of your development – whether that’s under a new boss or simply with a brand-new attitude.

Whatever the case, know that you’re precious and so worth it. We all are. We’ll simply keep getting the lessons we need to learn, surely with more great bosses along the way.

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Ryn Gargulinski is an award-winning author, artist, speaker and Reiki master who unwittingly found out her toughest boss of all time was actually herself. As founder of Sanctuary of the Wild Souls, she teaches people how to enjoy the heck out of life. More at WildSS.com.