4 Lessons I Learned When Dealing With Life Changes

Life continues to be a rollercoaster ride for me and my family. We make plans but change happens, and for life to go on, we must know how to cope and deal with it.  A long time ago someone told me that change isn't bad...it just means that we grow up.  I did not understand then what exactly he meant by that, but as I grew older...and wiser, I finally did.  That somehow there is always been something good that comes out of change and important life lessons learned.  I will have another birthday tomorrow and with it, I celebrate the changes in my life.

First Lesson - Nothing is that important

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For some people, their world crumbles or become chaotic when change happens.  But if there is one important thing I learned after years of changes, disappointments and heartaches, is that nothing...absolutely nothing is that important to merit a meltdown. We often forget that life on earth is temporary and everything here is artificial. Of course this is not to say that people cannot feel bad when change happens, but it is important to remember that life may give you lemons but you can always make lemonades :)  I quote from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux. ("One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eyes.")

Second Lesson - Look for the Positive

When I was removed from my post in 2011, my reaction was one of fatalism...you know the kind of feeling you get when something that is not totally unexpected happens. All through the entire process, I was hopeful that justice and fairness will prevail, but when it did not, I knew that my family and I will be in for some rough times, being the main bread-earner.  It took a year before I was reinstated to service but not in my old position. Instead, I was made to report to our department office while the legal department appealed to a higher court.  Last November, the higher court has decided in my favor but till today, I am still reporting directly to my department head. Why am I telling you this? Because after all these things happened to me, I realized that God has a really funny sense of humor and it's like He was answering my prayers in a twisted, convoluted way.  I have long been experiencing burn-out, and personnel issues causing conflict at work have escalated to the point of counter-productivity, that I found myself often dreaming of retirement.  Added to this, was my growing difficulty in managing my credit cards so that I was on the verge of credit card debt. Looking at it in a positive way, I told my family that my dismissal from service was a blessing in disguise, because it took all my work stress away and forced me to close down my credit cards!

Third Lesson - Nothing beats A Simple Lifestyle

When you find yourself suddenly out of work, one of the first things to change is your lifestyle. Suddenly, your daily routine changes and you start prioritizing your needs and forget about your wants. I guess I am luckier than others in my situation, since there have been no drastic changes in my lifestyle mainly due to the fact that my family and I live very simply.  By simply, I mean that we have no expensive social life, we rarely if ever go to the movies or eat out, we don't go malling or take trips for pleasure . Our idea of a good holiday is to stay at home, read or watch TV and bum around in bed, so that it was a relatively painless transition from having a full-time well paying job to being jobless. Can you imagine how difficult it would have been for us if we had a lavish lifestyle? As it was, what small savings we had was just enough to tide us over for the period until my reinstatement.  For certain, nothing beats a simple lifestyle, jobless or not.

Fourth Lesson - Trust God

My family and I have been through many changes in our lives, ones that I call the Good Fridays of my life and the most important lesson I have learned from all these, is to trust all my todays and all my tomorrows to The One who holds my future in His hands. And this most recent setback, was no exception. Everyday of my life, I not only feel but always receive God's providence and intervention. God is omnipresent, we only have to ask and He never fails to answer. We might not admit it but change happens in our life because of the choices we make. Nothing happens by chance. I also believe that whatever happens to us will only result to good because God loves us without condition. We only have to trust Him and put our lives in His hands.

Thank you God for the grace and the blessings!