When Life Hands You Lemons...

WARNING:  Life does not always go according to “the plan”.  If you’re older than 25 years old and have lost your naïve luster, you have undoubtedly experienced heart ache, or loss; or both.   We all start our lives as adults with a plan, even if it’s nothing formal or spoken. We have an idea about how and where our life with take us.  For some, their lives go exactly as planned.  But for others, and certainly myself on more-than-I-care-to-admit-to occasions, nothing EVER does.

Tip of the Day

When life hands you lemons….bounce!

Yeah…I know…a new twist on an old adage.  But I like it.  (I wrote it, of course I like it!)

Pretty recently I once again had the less-than-unique-to-me opportunity to pull myself up by my boot straps and mentally recover from yet another job that didn’t go exactly as planned.  The odd thing is that I did a great job, they really appreciated my contribution, and the department was running more smoothly than it ever had before.  And yet, I was dismissed because I “didn’t fit in”.

Ouch. 

It is very difficult to accept that others don’t like you or appreciate your contribution as much as you think they should.  It is natural to be angry (been there) ashamed (done that) and want to crawl into a hole and not come out.  Actually, I think if you’re feeling like this, you should….but for not more than 5 days.  Then, it’s time to…bounce.

Call a friend, update your resume, accept what happened for what it is and move on.  There is nothing to be gained by self pity.  Believing in yourself and your abilities is a huge factor in finding your next job and, if you’re like me, finding another job is pretty critical since it is the one thing keeping a roof over your head.

On to Plan B.  Or Plan C.  (Seriously, I think I’m at Plan P by this point in my life…)  Make a list of what you want from your next job.  Read books on self esteem, career advancement, image making, or public speaking.  Do anything but sit around and feel sorry for yourself.

For the past few weeks, life has been seriously kicking my ass.  You name it, it went very wrong… money, relationship, career, family, health.  All of it.  I have cried more, this week, than the previous 6 months combined.   Even my therapist is a bit stumped on how to help me outta’ my funk.  

Speaking of old adages…have you ever heard “The plumber’s sink is always clogged”?

That is me…the advice giver who needs more advice than anyone.  I have theories and ideas and always seem to figure it out but…it’s not easy…and some days it seems pretty freakin’ impossible.  But, instead of being embarrassed and sad and allowing my self defeat to get the best of me I’ve decided to share my life, and experience, with you. 

Maybe, just maybe, you’ll realize that you’re not alone.  There are many many of us who don’t like making lemonade and would rather just….bounce.