When life flings crap your way, it's easy to get overwhelmed and let things get the better of you. However, this is the time to look on the bright side and both be grateful for the good things and acknowledge that things could be worse.
Yesterday my husband came home early from work, because he'd been let go. We knew that the chances of this happening were high, but it's still a blow, especially as we've just started trying to get my daughter through university. He's not stopped applying for jobs in the year and more that he's worked there, but the work situation in South Australia is abysmal, so there is little work available and a lot of people applying for any job that comes up. I'm sure it's becoming a common situation across the world, but with the manufacturing industry moving out of first world countries, it's becoming a real issue for workers in these areas.
I was initially quite distressed, but there are worse things that could happen and my daughter walking in from her day at uni reminded me of that. While I have my family around me, we can get through things. Others have managed with worse. A friend’s husband was out of work for several years and she was too sick to work, yet somehow they managed and her husband did find work eventually.
It's funny how we can look at our lives differently to that of those around us. When we see others, we can see things in their lives that we would be grateful for, but they take for granted, but often miss that in our own lives.
A friend of my daughters’ had an apprenticeship at a florist. She loved it and was very lucky to have obtained this opportunity. However, her mother is a strict Christian and believes that for girls, working is a privilege. So when she grounded her for going against some of her mother's values, she was also banned from going to work and ended up losing her apprenticeship. This was such a hard thing to hear when so many would wish for an opportunity like this, yet others would appreciate the excuse not to have to work. Each of us has our own path in life and our own obstacles to overcome. While I wish I could wave a magic wand and make everything good again for this girl, I have to realise that she has her own path to walk just as we all do. Once she is of age she will have to choose whether or not to come out from under her mother's rules.
I'm on a mission to look for silver linings as we try to move through this situation.