You'll Be Bright

Unemployment can be a dismal doldrums of frustration and self loathing for many because it can spawn feelings of futility and worthlessness.  The inner struggle one has with their consciousness is as much of a challenge as finding a job and making ends meet in the these trying times.  Once you begin to succumb to the negative feelings it is easy to continue down that slippery slope into depression and loss of confidence.  Once you reach that point, you’re in big trouble. 

But don’t worry, this is not a post about what shade of blue I currently am.  It’s actually just the opposite.  It’s a post about winning the battle I spoke of in the first paragraph.  It’s a post about staying positive and upbeat while it would be just as easy to feel down.  I found inspiration from within myself and from several outside sources, and hopefully for anyone facing a similar situation you can take away something from this.  This post title is actually taken from a rather inspiring Cloud Cult song, if you haven’t listened to them yet, do it.

I was born an optimist.  I’m wired to be laid back, take things as they come, and embrace the unpredictable.  This set of qualities has been particularly useful in the last few weeks.  Part of the reason I’ve been able to keep my head up is because I’ve always tended to look on the bright side of things and turn challenges into opportunities to learn and grow.  A lot of that is because I have always had an incredible support system around me.  My family and friends have always been encouraging, and have been especially helpful in the last few weeks.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I am a firm believer that positive thoughts yield positive results while negative thoughts lead to failure.  Your attitude is typically a direct correlation to your level of effort, which leads me to my next point

Waking up with, and maintaining the right attitude is key.  Your attitude is the one thing that you can control when everything else in life is left up to fate or destiny or chance or whatever you believe in.  You can’t choose what happens to you, but you can control how you deal with it.  I could continue listing cliches, but I think you get the point.  I read a book recently, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand , that tells the incredible story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic distance runner that finds himself in WWII. (my second recommendation of this post, read this book, it is amazing)  His plane is shot down in the middle of the Pacific and only 3 of his 11 crew mates survive the crash.  He is left to float the waters of the pacific ocean in a small life raft, with no supplies or provision, for 47 days and over 2000 miles of sun baked, salty sea water.  He says several times that the hardest part about his situation was not battling hunger, thirst, or the horrific conditions, it was holding on to his will to live.  The human body is capable of incredible things, but the mind is capable of things even greater.  I choose everyday to stay positive and as long as I hold on to that, I’ll be fine.

The negatives will come, deal with them and move on.  If you read my last blog post, you would probably be thinking “hmm that wasn’t very positive” and begin second guessing everything you’ve already read.  Yes I’ve been frustrated at times with the job search and the lack of success I’m having so far with finding a job.  But the difference is, I deal with each negative and move on.  So far I’ve had two handfuls of rejections and not one job offer.  It hurts to get that rejection, but I can accept it as part of the process of finding a job, and get over it.  I always found it ironic that people, and girls in particular, use the phrase “I’m over it” because it usually happens right in the middle of an emotional argument when they are in fact, no over it.  But at least they have the right idea.  I’m over it is the right attitude to have.  In my case, take the rejections, write a blog post about them, and move on to being happy. 

Finding happiness in new ways.  I’ve learned a lot about finding happiness recently from a friend my girlfriend used to nanny for.  His name is Bryan Skavnak and he runs a very successful golf academy in Minnesota.  He’s a terrific guy, a great father and husband, a wonderful golf instructor and a very talented writer and motivator.  He recently wrote a book called “The Happiest Golfer” (here’s a link to the Amazon page, and my 3^rd recommendation in this post) which talks about how to be happy and be a better person both on and off the golf course.  It’s a great read for golfers and non golfers alike. 

I learned a lot about finding happiness in his book, and one of the ways I’ve found happiness is by using the time off I have to enjoy and expand on some of my hobbies and talents.  For starters, I started this blog and began writing.  Writing was always forced upon me in school, and while I always enjoyed writing I never had the chance to write for my own purposes.  Now I’m doing it because I want to and I’m really enjoying it.  I’ve been reading a lot of books.  I never realized how much I loved to read until I had the time to do it.  I’ve rededicated myself to working out and getting in shape.  I’m running everyday now, playing basketball, and eating healthier.  I’ve been able to play some golf, thanks to the nice January weather in Florida.  I’m listening to music, a lot.  Now I know a lot of this is only possible because I don’t have 9 hours of my day occupied by work, but I’m able to fill up all of the time I could be spending bummed out about life with activities that bring me happiness.  Whether you’re working or not, make time to do things that you love and discover new things that bring you happiness. 

Learn from mistakes and Improve yourself.  One of the most important things I’ve done since being laid off is taken the time to perform some self assessment, and look for opportunities to improve.  If I can use this extra time to gain some knowledge, acquire and improve some skills, and improve myself, how can I not be excited about what lies ahead?  I realized I needed to gain some more experience in social media and generate some written content to expand my skill set for my career.  I set out to create a blog, practice writing, and learn ways to better use social media for business.  I try and take time everyday to learn something new or attack some personal project to better myself.  With the help of a good friend I’ve realized it would be incredibly valuable to learn some basic programming skills, so I’m starting to learn HTML and CSS.  I would think most people would agree achieving self improvement creates a great sense of accomplishment and generates a positive attitude about ones self. 

I know your eyes are probably getting a little tired from all the reading.  I wanted to try and keep this short, but I was pretty excited to share all of this and didn’t want to limit myself.  Hopefully you have taken something away from this, and have been inspired to find a little bit more happiness and positivity in your life.  I have to give credit to a lot of the people around me for helping me write this, even though you didn’t directly contribute to this post, you’ve provided me with the support and inspiration to create these positive feelings. So again, thank you.

I feel confident that despite my situation, I can remain positive and continue working hard to better myself.  At least until I run out of money . . .