Never mind turning lemons into lemonade…
…When life lobs some citrus fruit at your gob, I’m finding that it’s more productive to learn how to better stomach lemons instead.
A condensed (if not understated) analysis of my 2024 experiences thus far would be ‘challenging’, with an orchard’s worth of lemons being swallowed with varying degrees of bitterness.
Drinking it all in has been nigh on impossible at times, but having spat out a few pips along the way, I can honestly say that I’ve rarely had more zest for life. It’s for this reason that I’ve opted to squeeze out a blog.
Self-employed life presents its challenges at the best of times, but it never ceases to teach me a lesson and I’ve learned lots from the first three months of the year.
Personal life has been a bit more of a curate’s egg, but I’m whipping up an omelette which is sustaining me way better than hours of introspection ever did.
One such lesson has been that however unpalatable certain moments in life might be, you’re always in control of the way you react to them. Whether karma or coincidence, it’s this reaction that paves the way for better times in the future (I’m finding at least).
The reason I’m disclosing this? Because I’ve finally twigged that difficult times are an inevitable consequence of living. This was ever the case. Life is comprised of failure, regret and loss and I’m now entirely at ease with this fact. As a result, I feel sufficiently emboldened to build back better. We’re resilient creatures and we’ll continue to evolve to live with a degree of dissatisfaction and insecurity, precisely because it’s the dissatisfied and insecure person that’s going to do the most work to innovate?!
So going back to those lemons…Not believing in myself and being generally unassertive have been criticism thrown at me to make a drink from, but you won’t be surprised to read that I’m not going to try.
Feedback is the breakfast of champions after all, so I instead took the barbs as a nudge in the right direction towards beneficial change.
In January, I lost a significant portion of business but since then, I’ve secured three new clients with possibly more to follow. In other words, I sucked up that bitter taste and stayed true to myself, remembering that others do value me. For the virtues I’ve been told I lack, I’ve recruited and collaborated to add more strings to my bow. I’m now in a better place than I was before.
My personal life also took a hit, but I’m still refusing to drink lemonade. Better instead to assume ignorance and remain unattached in order to promote growth. I also keep the following opinion close to my heart, which trumps any criticism that was thrown my way: I’m a good man.
If the first three months of the year have taught me anything, it’s that life can be stressful, arduous and often unpleasant, requiring resilience to withstand the inevitable slings and arrows of misfortune. I have also learned that these times are far from the worst and some of the most meaningful of all.
As Freud once said: “One day, in retrospect, the times of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful. And don’t bother making lemonade from them!”
Happy Easter from me – and do get in touch sometime!
