When we think of times of trouble, we might think of it in the broad sense of a recession, where everyone is in effected, or we might think of it in terms of a personal experience that occurred to someone. On Sunday, January 17th, I found out that I was getting a divorce. Needless to say the initial shock I felt melted away into panic as I realized my support system was going to change and in fact already was changing. What I realized however was that panicking was the last thing I wanted to do, so while I did allow myself to feel it, I also started thinking of what I could to handle this situation.
I realized immediately I needed to reach out to my network, both personal and professional. I need to reach out to my personal network for comfort and talking about how I felt, and I needed to reach out to my professional network to get advice on what I could both about the divorce and also about finding a way to stay self-employed full time, especially when my business isn't currently bringing in enough income to enable that.
Reaching out to my network involved telling them what was going on, and being vulnerable. Admitting that my business was not as solvent as I would like it to be wasn't easy, but I realized that if I wanted their help I needed to be upfront about my circumstances so that I could get the best possible advice from them.
It's important to reach out to your network in times of trouble, and to do that you need to be open and vulnerable. That's not easy to do, because culturally we are told to keep our feelings to ourselves, to put on a stiff upper lip, but I found that being so open was helpful and I realized that if someone came to me in a similar situation, I'd want to know what was going on, so that I could really help the person. The advice I got definitely helped me start to put a plan together that I could use to help me deal not only with a difficult emotional situation, but also a difficult financial situation.
When you go through a difficult time, don't pull away from your network. It might seem that's the best way to handle the situation, especially if you are hurting, but reaching out to your network can help you find the strength to deal with a difficult situation and develop a strategy for moving forward, while still being able to do something you love.
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