These Are The Stories You Will Tell

Pandemic has put people in isolation and created difficult times. Working from home with family and distractions. Unemployment is climbing towards ~15%-20%. People laid off, forced to retire early, losing retirement investments, having to find different work, becoming a gig worker, possibly losing a car or home, or being homeless temporarily. 

These are the stories you will tell years down the road after you figure it out. Heard stories in my youth from elders and now tell mine. Intend to tell stories how I overcame issues and became more successful after this over.

The past is full of examples of people overcoming hardships: Mayflower. The westward expansion. Irish potato famine. WW1 trench warfare. Spanish flu infecting ~1/3 of the world’s population & killing 1 of 10. The Great Depression. WW2 warfare and British citizens surviving months of bombings. 9-11.  Terrorism.

Do you know the difference between being broke and being poor? Being broke is temporary. Being poor is life long. I have been broke and unemployed several times. My career has not been kind - periods of unemployment, pay cuts and self-employment failures. Changed industries (which I was told was impossible) and moved several times including cross-country to find work.

The difference is studied my skills and found ones was good at. Then tried to find industries and companies that need those skills. Constantly learning new technologies in demand. Asked people for help and networked. Failed often. Persisted in trying different ways.

Use this time to review your successes in life. What skills did you use? Which skills would you like to use daily? Study successful people in books or articles. Why were they successful? Which examples can you implement? Research what work is in demand. What low cost training can you do now? You don’t have to be perfect. You only need one job.

We are more resilient than we think. Hang in there. If you learn more and keep trying new ways, you eventually figure out how to succeed in parts of life. And we learn God loves us unconditionally. You have stories to tell.