A Better Life

As we go through our lives sometimes circumstances beyond our control force us to take a break. Imagine you are going along and due to budget constraints or the Sequester, you are laid off from your job. This would be a forced break. You didn’t ask for it, you didn’t do anything to cause it, you just drew the short straw and now have to consider your options. One aspect of my job has been that it doesn’t really fit any particular mold or category recognized on job search sites. What should your resume (or resumes) focus on? Is it time for a career change? Should you even be searching for a job or try to build a business instead? It is very difficult and if you are fortunate enough to have finances in place to cover you for 6 months or so, maybe it is time to just kick back and review your life for a couple of weeks. Give yourself time to look over your work history and chart the course that best fits your experience, abilities and interests. Maybe starting a business has been ...

Events in life are sometimes unforeseen, unplanned and sometimes not in anyway your fault.  For instance, let's say you walk into work and you’re working away.  Then someone says you are to go to a conference room.  You walk in and they begin by saying, "Unfortunately,...".  From there you know this is not going to be good news.  The end result is you get a termination letter because you have been laid off.  Now, for most of us that is a devastating situation because, provided you are responsible for others in your household, how do you tell your significant other especially if you are the sole source of income?  What do you do now?  Imagine this happening when you are 50+ years old and it was already tight with the money you were bringing in?  This is a situation no one wants to find themselves in but happens every day to people throughout our country and the world.  What do people do? Well, the first thing one must do is wrap your head around this news psychologically, ...

So many times I have seen this particular scenario, particularly with women in my life. I am asked about doing something and I respond with a polite no. Does it end there? No, they proceed to continue their tirade until I give in or conveniently “change my mind”. Why can’t people respect the no? No means no. This is what I have always been told, usually in the context of dating but there are so many areas where a no should be respected and left alone. Some of the most current infractions have been when asked to purchase something for my apartment, my response was I can’t really afford that right now. Their response? Oh I will buy it and you can pay me back. Again the no was not taken seriously and now my finances are strained. What this behavior tells me is that no matter how I feel about something, I am not considered. Sometimes I may even feel compromised because I am being asked to do something I am truly not comfortable with. “You will go to this event whether you like ...

Politics should not be a spectator sport but a full on contact sport. So many times we as a nation seem to want to let someone else make our decisions for us. For instance, voter turn out is considered acceptable in the 30% range. So basically 1 in 3 will take part in the political process while 2 out of 3 will be represented by someone whom they did not choose nor did they voice their opinion. Is it fair for those 2 out of 3 to complain? Yes and no. Yes, as someone who has fallen prey to the whims of the powers that be but no as in someone who did not take part in the most powerful medium we have at our disposal. The solitary vote may not mean much but 1,000,000 solitary votes can change the course of history. Each time an election occurs whether it be on the local or national level we have the opportunity to change the outcome. However, when the powerful make a decision or worse, pass a law we d o not agree with all of us chime in with our disapproval and give our opinion on...

Over the last year we were informed that the world would end on December 21, 2012 due to the Mayan calendar ending on that day. Well, nothing traumatic happened to the world at large so the Mayan calendar had no mystical meaning and served no other purpose than to make some people rich from selling books about the end of the world and expounding on Mayan history. So I suppose this exercise did serve the purpose of bringing people together (at least those that bought into this idea) who were preparing not to be here this morning. Throughout the ages and several times in my lifetime someone or some group has come out to say the world is going to end on such and such a day. Oh they always have a good explanation on why this particular day is going to be the end of everything as we know it but alas the disaster and calamity never occurs. But what if the world had ended yesterday? What would be different? How would we prepare for such an event? Most of us would be praying maybe call...

In all of the time that I have worried about anything (meaning every day of my life), I have yet to see any positive effect.  Sure it makes me feel better dwelling on it thinking I am "doing something about it" when in actuality all I am doing is diving deeper into despair for no good reason.  Most, if not all of the time the event I was worried about never came to pass anyway.  So why do I continue to exercise this effort of futility?  Is is nature (in born) or nurture (experience)?  As far as why I continue to worry is because sometimes when faced with a difficult situation or decision I want to think I am doing something about it.  Worry is the grand daddy of all procastination devices.  This isn't sitting around watching TV instead of dealing with a difficult task, or reading a book or even discussing it in a meaningful way with a friend.  No, it is delving deeper and deeper into all the possible outcomes of the event.  Most of the ti...

Well, here we are at another Thanksgiving. No turkey or ham in sight. No dressing and no cranberry sauce. No family around just me alone to celebrate the one day of the year we set aside to celebrate and give thanks for everything. Normally I would have been at my parents but instead I am home thinking about what I am missing this year. I called my mother and talked for a long time (I don’t believe our phone calls have ever been less than 30 minutes). This is exactly what I would have been doing had I made the 3 hour trip to their home. Sitting around talking about nothing and everything like every other family on the planet. I was supposed to spend time with a friends family but that has seemed to fall through. However, I am not disturbed by this but thankful to have this time to reflect on the past year and all everything that I have to be thankful. I have a wonderful, good paying job which I enjoy. I live in a nice apartment surrounded by friendly neighbors. I belong to ...