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You Will Survive
You're not going to die
If you don’t get the job,
the callback,
the promotion.
If you max out your credit cards,
wipe out your savings,
lose every cent in your checking account…
you’ll still be OK.
If your lover leaves you or
the relationship you have tirelessly nurtured withers and ends…
you’ll survive.
If you flub your words,
regretfully overstep your bounds,
feel the sting of unprovoked or provoked criticism….
the world won’t stop turning.
You’ll be OK because you’re always OK.
Have always been OK.
Examine your past.
Take the 30,000-foot view of life’s trajectory.
When have you not landed on your feet?
Has it been challenging, crushing, painfully debilitating?
Sure.
Maybe you needed support.
You called the doctor, your best friend, or the headhunter.
You poured a stiff drink or packed your bags for a yoga retreat.
But you are resilient.
A survivor.
You have chutzpah running through your veins and everything about your history proves it.
So wince in shame.
Lose it all and start over.
- Call a friend. Allow her to talk you down and remind you of the other time(s) this has happened. And how you got through them juuuuust fine.
- Move through it. (Literally.) Dance it out to your five favorite hip hop songs. Go for a run. Stop by a boxing class and punch your way through it. Moving makes you feel better. Period. End of story.
- Make a list of past mistakes —and why they don’t matter now. Remember that job you didn’t get? That dimpled English major who dumped you in college? The grad school that didn’t accept you? And how much does it matter now? Zero? I thought so.
- Internalize these words of wisdom: If everyone in the world put their problems in a pile, you’d be happy to take yours back.
Get beat by the competition.
You’ll be OK.
But more than that, you’ll be a stronger, smarter, fiercer version of yourself.
And that’s way, way better than being just OK.
