I’m at the beach. It’s raining. Not sprinkling. Showering. Misting. Or any of the displays that suggest wait-a-minute and the sun’s bound to come out. This is a rain that’s going to stay for a while. I better get used to it.
It came advertised. I saw it on the weather channel, read it in the paper, I heard it from forecasters who added their personal and chipper “don’t bother going to the beach this week, it’s going to rain.”
I didn’t listen. I wouldn’t. I had a plan and was working it. I told my calendar, told my clients, packed my bags, put gas in the car, checked the spare and made sure I had enough air in the tires. With that kind of dogged determination, I was heading for the beach with my sun screen and slightly shaken optimism that sheer will was sufficient to ward off all storms.
Rats. It’s raining.
There’s a large needlepoint that hangs above the bed in the condo where I’m staying. It reads, “If you’re lucky enough to be at the beach, you’re lucky enough.” I repeat it several times daily, reminding myself of its basic truth. Meanwhile, I read a book, watch the Olympics, celebrate victories and stories of success and almosts, and watch the rain. I follow the news and interviews with hurricane survivors picking their way through the scattered debris of their lives and repeat the mantra of the needlepoint. “If you’re lucky enough to be at the beach, you’re lucky enough.”
What has this to do with career challenge and job search strategy? It may be a stretch, but here it is: No matter how much you plan, organize, and grit your teeth you might not get all that you want. You might get close, you might get most, and you might fall short of the best that you had in mind. “If you’re lucky enough to be at the beach, you’re lucky enough.”
Ten thousand athletes from 202 countries compete in Athens. A fraction of those attending will get everything they work for and want. But they all go to the beach. They’re lucky enough.
Thousands of Floridians survived a horrific weather experience, suffering the loss of loved ones and the destruction of their earthly possessions. Their beach reminds us, dramatically so, that good fortune is relative, and if you’re whole and have your health, home, food, water and clothing, you’re lucky enough.
And as they heal from an event they attended but didn’t invite, they come to grips with what’s next. Medallists and their medal-less colleagues return home and evaluate what’s next. And job hunters who’ve yet to win the one they want struggle with what’s next.
If you’re that frustrated job seeker, you can spend your time blaming the economy, the competition, or yourself. And if that gets you going, great. But if blaming others takes the pressure off you to do anything more or anything differently, you’ve missed the lesson that’s usually imbedded in our “almost’s”.
In reality and despite your worthiness and willingness to try harder and do more than the next person, you may not get everything you want. But if you refuse to settle for less, and instead strive for more, you’ll get something better than what you have.
Take stock. Check your inventory.
What’s important to you? When all is said and done, and the cheering subsides and you’re left with your story and its footprint, is it enough? Have you done what you wanted, have you surrounded yourself with the people or things that matter, have you a life well lived?
There’s something about a little rain that makes you realize, if you’re lucky enough to be at the beach, you’re lucky enough.
