Posts Tagged ‘true stories’
Overcoming your screw-ups
January 9th, 2010
Screwed up much in life?
Welcome to the club.
Sometimes the biggest mountains we have to move are the consequences of our own mistakes. We assume whatever we’ve done is so HUGE there’s no getting past it. Maybe we’ve gone bankrupt, destroyed a marriage, ruined our credit rating, damaged our reputation, alienated our children, wrecked our health, or committed a crime and wound up in prison. And we can’t imagine how we could ever put the Humpty Dumpty of our lives together again.
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Unpredictable outcomes
December 26th, 2009
Financially speaking, this has been a difficult year for many people around the world. Some of us keep hearing recovery is imminent–and things may be looking up for our friends–but our ship is still anchored in the distance, a long way from shore.
Although we understand the world’s economic woes have nothing to do with us, we can’t help feeling like we’ve screwed up somehow. If we’d only had the good sense to turn left instead of right, we wouldn’t be struggling so much. But we need to accept that, even when we make reasonable decisions, circumstances may conspire put mountains in our path. It’s a lesson Andre-Francois Raffray learned all too well.
Squawk about conforming
December 12th, 2009
I hated Casual Fridays.
No, it wasn’t because I didn’t like having a chance to dress down a bit. It was because my organization had been taken over by a prig who had no interest in the welfare of the workers—or the welfare of the company for that matter. And rather than addressing real issues of wage inequities and mismanagement, the new president thought he could make it all better by tossing us a bone: Casual Fridays.
So when Casual Fridays rolled around, I made it a point to dress my best. The priggish president never noticed and wouldn’t have cared if he had. But at least I knew I wasn’t going beak down like the chickens Gordon Mackenzie’s dad “mesmerized” back in the summer of 1904. Read the rest of this entry »
Handling button-pushers
December 5th, 2009
We all go through rough patches. But for whatever reason, the journey through life is much tougher for some people than others. If you’ve had to travel over a lot of rocky ground, you’ve probably found that the people who’ve tried to give you a hard time along the way never had to endure the same kind of difficulties you did. So since they didn’t have to fight those tough battles, they have plenty of excess energy to spend trying to make themselves feel important at your expense.
Learn to picture success
November 28th, 2009
A few years ago, I lost my way while sightseeing in an unfamiliar city. Suddenly I was alone, on foot, in a deserted area with no map to guide me. Searching the skyline, I spotted the steeple of a famous church building and kept winding through the back streets toward it. As long as the destination was in my sights, I knew I’d get there eventually.
But what happens if you can’t visualize your goals? Usually, it’s failure—as American swimmer Florence Chadwick once learned the hard way.
Finding purpose in disability
November 21st, 2009
They say what you don’t know can’t hurt you. But that didn’t quite prove true for Monty Reed.
In 1986, Reed was conducting night parachute training as a member of the U.S. Army Rangers. Suddenly one of the other jumpers glided too close, coming underneath Reed and cutting off the flow of air to his chute. The chute collapsed about 100 feet from the ground and Reed plummeted to earth.
After the impact, Reed had trouble breathing, but the worst pain was in his broken ankle. He managed to wrap some tape around it, get to his feet, and grab his gear. Rangers are taught to suck it up and keep going, and that’s what Reed did. He walked eight miles to the helicopter.
The next morning Reed couldn’t move. What he didn’t know when he made that eight-mile walk was that he hadn’t just broken his ankle. He’d also broken his back in five places. Doctors told him that walk to the helicopter was likely the last walk he’d ever make.
Is living a dream worth it?
November 14th, 2009
My sister-in-law calls me a “bow head.” That’s because, while she grew up a tomboy, I was one of those little girls who wore bows in my hair and outfits that were all matchy-matchy. As they sang in the musical Flower Drum Song
On the other hand …
My DVD collection has more action pics
Why try your best?
November 7th, 2009
Several years ago I worked with a woman who confided that every morning she drove into the parking lot, then sat in her car with her head on the steering wheel trying to will herself to go into the building. That’s how much she hated her job. And knowing her supervisor, I couldn’t blame her. But once she walked into her office, she always maintained her professionalism and did her job well.
At least once in our working lives, most of us will know what it’s like to be stuck in a job we loathe. And if that’s where you are right now, you probably wake up every morning wondering why you bother to put in so much effort for people who make your life miserable, who don’t pay half what you’re worth, or who can’t tell the difference between good work and crappy work anyway.
When you feel like that, just think about Mrs. Staples.
How a disaster inspired a legend
October 31st, 2009
Don’t speak
October 24th, 2009
My mom has always warned me that once you’ve put your foot in your mouth, no good can come from going back later and trying to explain what you really meant to say. After ignoring her advice a few too many times–and winding up with two feet in my mouth–I’ve decided she’s right.
You know how it is. Some friend or coworker asks what you think about so-and-so’s job performance or what you’ve heard about such-and-such’s marital troubles. You make some offhand comment that was better left unsaid. And the next thing you know, your comment has spread like wildfire and you’re feeling the heat. So you go back and try to make amends, only to wish you’d left it alone.