Life gave me a huge bunch of sour, rotten, disgusting lemons. My life took a hard right turn the day I found out I was being laid off from my comfortable, well-paying government job of 10 years.
For a while I was lost, shocked, angry, confused, and worried about my future. I hadn't pictured my future without this job. What should I do? Hold on to what was comfortable and try to stay? Try to find a job the same as my old one? Was I even happy there?
Or, should I try to make lemonade? Should I take the difficult and momentous step to go after exactly what I want in life and for my career? Can I do it?
Making lemonade is a hard recipe to follow. There are no clear, step by step instructions to follow. It involves a lot of uncertainty, stress, worry, and feelings of self-doubt. It makes you go way out of your comfort zone and do things you've never done before, and never thought you could do.
The decision to make lemonade was not an easy one. It would have been easier to leave those rancid lemons festering in a pile in the corner and let this lay off take me where it would. Likely I would have stayed in the same government department in a similar job for the next 30 years.
But that's not what I really wanted. I wanted happy, delicious, lemonade. Not rotting citrus. I let these events be the catalyst, the sign, the motivation I needed to give me the drive to make the right changes in my life. It cleared the way and gave me a blank slate for my future that I could shape in whatever way I wanted to.
Like all good recipes, there must be a secret ingredient. Mine was to constantly remind myself that no matter how hard it was, I would be happier in time than I ever was. That motivated me through the hardest times. Nothing worth having is ever easy right?
Two years later, as I sit working at the kitchen table with my sweet little boy playing happily beside me, I realize I have made a very delicious lemonade after all.
To all those who are going through a turbulent time in their lives, create your own unique recipe for lemonade and may it be wonderful. After all, who knew festering citrus could turn into delicious, happy, lemonade.