Yesterday someone new was told that their job was being downsized or that it no longer existed. Most of them cried, some were in shock and disbelief, some chose to be angry, some took to violence or name calling, some might even have become depressed enough to take their own life. Still, some took time to grieve for their loss and then dusted themselves off, pulled their shoulders back straight and decided it might be the best time to go into business for themselves.
A scene from yesterday, or a page from history? Hopefully both! History is full of examples of people that were either handed bad news by someone else or they experienced the loss of their own business. In today's society, these scenes are happening more and more every day. People who have worked for years for a company, through no fault of their own are let go because their job has been eliminated or because their company can no longer afford to pay them. When this happens we look for someone to blame. Is it the fault of government for regulating and taxing businesses to bankruptcy? Perhaps it is the greedy businessman who thinks their livelihood is more important than yours? Whatever the reason, laying blame will not reduce or reverse the loss and might possibly be the most detrimental thing you might do.
Stuff happens in life that we have absolutely no control over and despite all the PC RHETORIC and all the little league games that stress everyone gets to win, LIFE IS UNFAIR! Let me repeat that: LIFE IS UNFAIR and there are just some things that make no sense or have no rhyme or reason to us. Now let me repeat some sound words of advice from my little league coach when we lost a game: "Get over it". That's right, GET OVER IT! MOVE ON! Make your life about the next phase, not about the past. It is okay to grieve for your loss....for about a day then you have to get up and move on and MAKE something happen.
In the face of adversity, some will look for another job, some will collect unemployment, others will sue their company, and there are a few that will begin their own business. They will look at this as their one opportunity in life to do what they always dreamed of doing but never had the guts to try. Face it, if you are comfortable most people are content. It is not until they face adversity that they are willing to try anything. Many entrepreneurs became entrepreneurs because of some adversity in their lives. It was only when they faced the prospect of no job that they realized their dream of being their own boss. Ask one of those people today and they look at their old company laying them off as a blessing, not a bad time of their life.
In today's society, there will be many more jobs losses before the economy improves. Those that survive the recession will be the ones that decided not to lay down and take their loss personally. Rather they will be the ones that looked at their glass as half full and immediately began to look at how to fill it the rest of the way and keep it full for a lifetime. They decided to stop depending on their J.O.B as their meaning for existence and decided to make their own meaning for existence and means of support. They decided to get back up. As Les Brown says "when life knocks you down, and it will...try and land on your back because if you can look up, you can get up". TODAY, I CHOOSE TO GET BACK UP!
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