Is it hard to see others receive when you’ve been striving to receive and it just hasn’t happened? Valentine’s Day may be a joyous day for many, but for singles who long for a relationship, it can be a painful reminder of how alone they are. If you find yourself feeling discouraged and maybe envious when others receive what you desire, take heart. This is a perfect opportunity to shift your thinking and use the experience to get you moving toward your goal.
A few years ago I attended a group dinner with some people I know but don’t see often. Two of the couples were experiencing serious financial challenges. One couple owns a business. They’d lost a couple of major accounts and told us that evening that they had had enough. By the end of the year they planned to close their business and relocate out of state. The other couple had lost their cherished home when the housing market crashed and he lost his six-figure job. Shortly afterward the wife had gotten laid off after 15 years of employment with her company. Unlike the first couple, they were still struggling to assess their options and had no plans in place. I had my own professional and financial issues at the time, so these were sobering conversations to hear, especially since both couples had previously been very successful for many years.
Last month, I attended another dinner with these same folks. It turns out that the first couple never did relocate. They hung on and diversified their business. The original revenue stream continues on a smaller scale, and they have now developed a very profitable related line of business. The second couple has also turned the corner. He found a well-paying position in his field in town (his previous consulting job took him across the country most of the time), and she began working full time for an employer she had worked for during the summer. As a full time employee, she even has health insurance for her husband and her, saving them hundreds of dollars each month. They are still renting, but look forward to buying a home again within a year.
While I have not yet achieved that level of success with my goals, I found this evening very uplifting. If this can happen for not one, but both couples, why shouldn’t it happen for me (and you)? I received two lessons from their experience. The first is to be patient and not give up. These couples did what my grandparents’ generation did during the Great Depression. They rode it out. The second insight is that we don’t have to be happy campers through it all in order to be blessed in the end. I know that both couples dealt with depression, discouragement, anger, frustration, and shame as they isolated themselves from family and friends. Yet like the mythical phoenix, they have risen!
Celebrate every success you hear about. See their good fortune as contagious. Success is in the air! Thank God for their answered prayer and for yours, on the way.