Once the original shock passes, now its time to reinvent the rest of his life. Now there's a project huh. When is the last time someone gave you the freedom to just reinvent yourself with all the time and space you need? Another funny perspective. When we're working and struggling and clawing to get through the week, we dream about what we would do if we weren't locked into that job. And then one day you wake up with so much time and space you're not sure where to start. Not only is he changing jobs, he's changing industries. Ugh, that's different, starting from scratch.
As a coach, I spent alot of time reminding him, "it's not what you do that matters, it's who you are." Of course, who you are without a job doesn't pay the mortgage on a new house. So, I also gave him a ton of names and said, get your butt out there and start meeting people and showing them how brilliant you are! And, he hired a career coach. Not sure that was the best money he spent. He might have just bought a few new lures and spent some more time in the boat and come to the same conclusions. Who knows.
So maybe the lesson here is, do you have any ideas what your next career could and should look like? Maybe you should. You never know when it might start.
He spent a lot of time in his little Johnboat last summer. Like some folks go to church, he goes to fish. (FYI, we go to church too, you get that little spiritual metaphor right?)
Here's another lesson, I think this one applies to guys a lot, when you've spent your whole adult life providing for yourself and your family, giving it up to God is a lot harder than it looks. Faith sounds all warm and fuzzy when you're reading about it. It's a little dicey when the story is about you.
Ok, a little practical tactical break from the philosophical part of these lessons.
Can someone explain to me why this cracker is $3.19
And this one is .99 and they taste exactly the same?
These are the kind of things I just don't get. And why before now did I never question the cost of crackers? Why did my Mom always buy Zesta crackers for 3 times more than the others? Probably because her mom did or because she was going to prove to her mom that she had a better life and didn't need to buy those stinkin' generic crackers, she was moving up in life to the big name brand.
Time to question some things people.
Does your quality of life increase because you buy name brand crackers? So far, mine has not been changed adversely by lowering myself to generic crackers, in fact, I'm liberated by my new found freedom. This was just one of the many things my lovely husband and I have learned together. I will not forget the day my groom walked in the door with that proud look on his face, holding a sack of groceries and said, "hey, try this cracker." And the moment we rejoiced when we learned that it tasted exactly the same for a third of the price.
Victory my friends, victory. United we stand.
Stay tuned, more to come from, Lessons from the Recession.
