Embracing My Journey ~ Living with passion & purpose!

A young girl stands in the center of the room.  To her left is a crowd of her teachers, coaches, people of influence who have shared their lives with her.  At the center of her world is her dad and his friends in military uniform all smiling warming.

To her right is another crowd, this one is filled with college students’ arms outstretched and flailing, moving slowly towards her as if in a horror movie.

The young girl dressed in her freshly pressed Girl Scout uniform looks to her left, then to her right as she clutches her one remaining box of Thanks-A-Lots(tm) cookies tightly to her chest.

One box remains and to her left are so many deserving people.  Those who have dedicated themselves to helping others, including herself and the group of students, who are standing at the cusp of opportunity.

She looks back and forth a few more times before finally giving in, she opens the box and hands half of the cookies to those on the left, the other half to those on her right.

Everyone smiles as they enjoy their cookie.  Ah, if only life were as simple.

I recently shared with my readers that each year I purchase Girl Scout cookies, specifically the Thanks-A-Lots(tm) and instead of eating them, I give them away to others as a thank you gift.

This year I challenged the parents of Girl Scounts eager to sell their boxes of cookies to encourage them to give away a box or two. To share those cookies with those they are grateful to.

Another person piped in and shared that there is an option to send a box to soldiers, a worthy act.

Then another suggested that we send our cookies to starving college students.

This caused a bit of an uproar as most don’t see starving college students as needing to be on the gift list for those receiving free Girl Scout cookies (or possibly any orther courtesy).

One thing lead to another and before I knew it the conversation turned to the problems college kids are having in making ends meet, that financial aid isn’t what it used to be, that many college students come out of school with a freshly minted degree only to not be able to find a job and that people should remember these kids, actually once they graduate they should be adults, and that we should basically take pity on them and make sure they have a special treat that they can’t afford for themselves.

In this case, a box of cookies.

This really irked me.

My dad served and was wounded in the war, my mom was forced to use government assistance after her divorce when working two to three jobs wasn’t enough to pay the bills. We all know someone with a family that has lost their job.

There are many examples in all our lives of people who could really use a box of cookies.

A courtesy,   A break.  And most of these people would do just about anything to change their situation.

Back to the students.  I survived college and graduate school along with many others.  We survived by working full time, attending classes and taking out student loans to make the rest of the ends meet.

Never once did I think about how nice it would be to receive a box of cookies.  I did not expect to receive a box of cookies.  I guess I would have liked to receive a box of cookies, but it never occurred to me that anyone would give me a box of cookies.

As I read and re-read what was being shared on my Facebook page, I began to wonder about those who claim they cannot find a job in today’s economy.

I started thinking about those poor college students who needed a box of cookies.

And I wonderered if their prospects were so bad they needed a box of cookies because the economy is bad?

Or is it because they have their standards set firmly on receiving something that doesn’t exist and they are not flexible enough to receive something else?  I wondered if college students are coming out into the world and expecting to start at the top, with high levels of pay and flexible work hours?

Recently the point was made that many companies are cutting back their pay scales. For example jobs that once paid $75,000 are now paying $40,000.

If you were a college student and offered a job paying $40,000, instead of $70,000, but it was a good job, with benefits and the room to grow, would you take it?

I wondered if you have no income or are living on unemployment isn’t $40,000 better than what you currently have?

If $40,000 won’t pay the bills, and that’s why you would not take the job, is it  perhaps time to re-evaluate what those bills are? To consider what is a necessity and what is a luxury?

What if it’s not that the jobs aren’t available, but that people are stuck in the past and what once was instead of being creative, moving forward, being open to new areas of experience where they can create a stream of income.

My dear friend Bill Bartmann is one of the most amazing individuals I have ever met.

One afternoon my daughter and Bill were chatting over Starburst candy and she asked him why he always wore black.  He replied that it was because he was color blind.  Then she asked why he wore the “thing” in his ear.  He told her he had hearing problems and it helped him to hear better.

Ok, color blind and partially deaf, so why do I find him so amazing?

Because Bill was also homeless, in a street gang, a high school drop-out and although he managed to make some business deals to earn income, one of those deals left him and his wife a million dollars in debt.

Did Bill give up?

Not a chance. Giving up was not in his playbook.

He managed to borrow $13,000 to start a new business from his kitchen table and within three years that million dollar debt was gone and Bill continued to move forward ending up as one of Forbes 400 wealthiest people.  Not bad for a color blind, partially deaf, high-school drop out from the streets huh?

College students with degrees and no job offers, out of work carpenters, lawyers losing clients, teachers without classrooms and even doctors without patients.

It doesn’t matter what you did in the past, the economy has changed and therefore we all have to be flexible along with that change.  Instead of complaining about what we don’t have, how about focusing on what we do have.

Health, a roof over our heads, our basic necessities are being met.

Many times when people lose a source of income they panic and that panic turns into fear and it’s been proven time and time again that what we focus on (even if it’s something we don’t want) will be brought to us.

Letting go of that fear and focusing on the positive, the goals we have set for ourselves, the income we desire to have flowing into our bank accounts, the joy and happiness that we experience each day as we live our lives to the fullest.

That is what is going to turn things around for those who are experiencing major life changes.

Think outside of the box, let go (at least temporarily) of some of the luxuries in your life.

Do you know it costs the average family almost $20 to eat ONE meal at a fast food restaurant?  Do you know that according to our local food bank that $20 would be enough to distribute 80 meals?

Having one car instead of two or more can save a family thousands of dollars each year.  I recently saw a pair of jeans in a Target store for $15.  The same pair was also in a department store for $125.

There was nothing different other than the price tag on those jeans and yet I know people who would not be caught dead in the $15 pair from Target.  Absolutely ridiculous and if you do the math and this person was to purchase just 5 pairs of jeans in Target they would spend $75, in the department store they would spend $625, a difference of $550 and for some a months rent or possibly a couple of car payments.

Don’t want to cut back?  Then how about thinking outside of the box in creating a business that allows for additional streams of income?

Direct sales or network marketing companies are abundant with opportunities and yes, even some of these representatives are seeing their sales decrease but it is still a viable method of earning extra income with flexible hours.

We have only one go-around in this world and the life you live is what you make of it.  No one else can experience joy, sadness, wealth or poverty in the same manner in which you can. It is truly up to each one of us to step up and take control of our lives, stop blaming our former boss, the economy, the weather, the price of gas or even the dog-catcher for our lives.

If you want that box of cookies, go out and create the income that will allow you to buy and enjoy as many boxes as you desire.  The world is your oyster, open it and find your pearl!

Or your thin mint.

***

Caryn FitzGerald is a motivational columnist, speaker and writer, she has been featured in and published several books, including “Manifest Success” & “Visual Arts Junction Interviews.”  She is also the author of “Tulips in the Sand: A Riley Matthews Mystery.”  Read more from Caryn at her website CarynFitzgerald.com.

EmbracingMyJourney L.L.C. is was created by Caryn FitzGerald.

Caryn, known as "The Manifesting Queen" is a motivational columnist, speaker and writer, she has been featured in and published several books, including "Tulips In The Sand" "Fish Sticks, Books and Blue Jeans" “Manifest Success” “Visual Arts Junction Interviews” & "“Online Marketing Success Stories..."

Caryn spent a decade in darkness and is now living in the light and sharing her inspiration with others. Read more from Caryn at her website CarynFitzgerald.com.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 1:03 pm and is filed under Caryn's writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.