Tantas lunas...

Hoy es mi feliz cumpleaños. Lo pasé con mi hermosa madre, con las llamadas y mensajes de los que me tienen en su pensamiento o en su corazón, con Dios, y con mis sonrisas ladronas.

Estoy feliz.

About... Job

It’s Monday, a new year begins, and your very first news is that you have been kicked out of your job. What to react?

Working world is sometimes unpredictable. Thing don’t always play on your side, even though you have done your best. It is frequently said that no one is essential or irreplaceable. But, what should I do now? There are bills to pay, family to support, taxes, prices have risen… It’s a seriously bad time to not have a job.

Your mind and emotions go crazy and all kinds of thoughts come out; commonly negative ones. “You are useless, opportunities are always taken away from you, no one accepts you, you are no enough, you are getting old, future seems hard”…

On the other hand, you start analyzing: “I think I was not happy working there, my work was hardly ever valued, I wasn’t doing what I like anyway.” And from there, another crisis begins: “What do I like? What am I good at? What is my passion? Hum… It may be time to start something new.

I believe that the difficulty in finding a satisfying job lays on the feeding and paying services need, and those won’t wait for you to find your way. You have to work to make money and you have to do it soon, no matter if you have to pack groceries at a supermarket or clean houses (no offense to these jobs). Therefore, as we are already earning the money that, by the way, barely affords our monthly bills, we do everything possible to not lose it. Being a teacher’s pet included.  And we smoothly start forgetting about ourselves, we begin thinking of being happy at work as a stupid dream a little further than sun. We start training our minds with I can’t, we disrespect our integrity by admitting what we dislike, we stop giving our opinions, we let our best ideas to be stolen, we smile to the one who makes our life miserable and we step over the ones who helped us the most. And all this, to avoid losing belonging feelings and the chance to make some money.

Within our resolutions we always include losing weight, doing exercise, quit smoking, eating healthier, go to church, traveling more, learning to play an instrument, buying a new car. But we almost never involve anything to do with discovering our passions in order to start working on what really makes us happy. Learning something new could lead us to find out what truly represents our spirit and a way of life. Once I read this: “think of any activity you enjoy so much, that you could even do it for free.” This could give you an idea of your dream job. However, in these financially hard times, dealing with obnoxious traffic jams and thinking of thousands of errands to do, it is practically impossible to even thinking of working without getting paid; we get scared, and finally we abandon our search. Sounds like we might be doing something wrong, isn’t it?

Sometimes we wait until we have hit bottom to start the change that will make our lives satisfactory, we have the belief that only by having made a bunch of mistakes and getting over them will provide us the necessary experience to know what road not to take. Nobody has the absolute solution, neither the one who has mistaken, nor the one who hasn’t been flawed. But the strength and the courage of making our lives different are born within us. Even if we already have a “satisfying job”.

But, what exactly are we doing wrong? We have dreams and goals that are not consistent with our reality to meet them. We bite more than we can chew. I am talking about that house in Italy we want to buy, the trip around the world we want to take, the CEO position we want to occupy, the curule chair of a deputy on which we want to sit getting millionaire bonuses, the concerts we want to give at the most important venues on earth, the movies we want to star, the lives we want to save and change. To all those things that are found as in an ideal world, within our free minds that do not pay taxes nor deal with the horrors of the underworld. And when we land back we realize that having a university degree we are taking the coffee to the boss who does not even thank the hand, or continue to scrub the toilets, or driving taxis, or selling insurance under commission. None of these jobs are degrading, of course, for those who like doing them. Because those who do not, we must recognize, deep down we feel humiliated. But that humiliation does not come from the position we occupy, no. All work is worthy, as long as no one is trampled on. Rather it comes from what we ourselves have done (or not), the lack of coherence that I mentioned earlier.

Albert Einstein once said: “If you want different results, do things differently”. If we build high expectations on dreams and goals compared to what we are really doing, we won’t get anything but a huge frustration. Let me be a little clearer: we should start with small goals according to our possibilities, and one by one should they be fulfilled. We must start training our mind with “yes, I can” and “I must strive”. We have to learn to unlearn and change what is in our hands and to accept what is not in our control. How perfect it would be to find a millionaire to marry with and live our dream! But even to find one involves effort and dedication as they do not take just anybody and won’t appear at your door.

Everybody says “live your dream!”, “live today as if it were the last one”, but no one has an instructive.  What nobody says is that you must stop hearing all the others and start listening to yourself. Give yourself a time and lock in your preferred room. Interrogate yourself under a lamp and in front of a mirror, obliterate yourself to confess everything you need to know about yourself. Don’t worry; this is not adding insult to injury. I know it’s a bitter pill, but if we really want a change we must take it. Laying on a bed of roses is not good for health.

And when you end up sweating, crying and tired, you will have enough motivation to stop beating around the bush and start having an action plan. You may realize you have been barking at the wrong tree, but again, it only takes courage to do it. The next step would be making things happen. Let me tell you: you will fear. Yes. And you better accept it will happen, and fear won’t go away until you have successfully completed your task.

Let it flow and go with the flow. There is nothing compared to the feeling of having done something you wanted. It is like rewarding yourself for being brave, because bravery is not about lacking fears; it’s about facing and beating them. When this happens, you can call it a day. We should start thinking of fear as our friend rather than as our enemy as it makes us DO.

We shouldn’t let us miss the boat, don’t let an unpleasant experience as having been taken your job stop believing in yourself. After all, it’s just another experience and it happened for a reason. What have you asked for your life? Isn’t it that you want to be happy? Well, the road is clear now. What are you going to do?

Hit the road!

Don´t forget to tell us about your progress.

Acerca de... Valores

"No se queje de su país. Si usted es de las personas que tiran basura en las calles y no recoge las heces de su perrito, entonces se merece vivir en él, así como está." Fue la idea que me despertó cuando salí a barrer la calle y no terminaba de recoger ni sacar basura de entre los arbustos que la gente deja a su parecer. La pondré por escrito donde pueda verse.
Y es que es increíble saber que todo el mundo se queja por todo y que nadie hace lo posible por cambiar lo que uno puede. Vivimos en un basurero, la gente avienta sus desechos sin la menor vergüenza donde caiga. Sacan a pasear a sus perritos y muy pocos son los que recogen la caca. E incluso he visto a los padres incitar a sus hijos para que hagan lo mismo. ¡Qué dolor! Mas, ¡pobre de ti si te atreves a enfrentarlos o a pedirles, por más educada que sea tu propuesta, que eviten hacerlo o que recojan los desechos porque te mientan la madre! Y además, se enfurecen y tiran más.
¿De qué va éste mundo? ¿Dónde quedaron los valores, el respeto? Esas mismas personas sucias y burlonas son las primeras en levantar la voz si algo les ocurre en perjuicio propio, piden a gritos que sus derechos sean respetados, se sienten violentados y víctimas. No pretendo ofender a nadie, pero tampoco justifico a nadie.
¿No es cierto que el cambio comienza con nosotros? ¿Por qué nos hemos permitido llegar hasta aquí, con delincuentes cada vez más jóvenes, niños que llevan armas al colegio?
¿Por qué no nos proponemos comenzar el cambio cada uno? ¿Seremos minoría?

¿Qué opinas tú?