When you thought you were sailing along

Hat tip to my friends, Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter and Rob Poindexter from CareerTrend who will always come to mind when I say the word “Sailing.”

Their passion for sailing and using the analogies in the career industry has truly become their brand.

But I couldn’t help use the word. For me, though not a sailor, I can easily understand the feeling you get on water or on land when you do feel like you are sailing along.

Facing a challenge

You expect some difficulties just in every day life so you could be thinking, “Sailing along” what is she talking about? It never happens!

You’re right, but you know how it is, sometimes you just think things are going pretty smoothly. A little bump here and there but nothing major. Then all of the sudden, everything hits you at once.

When Sailing Along doesn’t fit your life

Here’s my latest trio of troubles:

Tax Surprise

Recently, my accountant’s office called with instructions to come in to sign the tax forms. Ever curious, I asked the staff person to let me know what to expect. The number she told me was way over my budgeted plan. It was also the month for 1/3 of my property taxes.  But I regrouped, figured out a plan, and moved forward.

Oops, sidelined by sniffles

I was thinking the other day as I listened to many people complaining of being sick, “Hey, I have been blessed with no major colds or anything for awhile.”

Boom! I just caught this tenacious cold. It started with an ear ache which was uncomfortably similar to the one I had in 2010 that took 2 months to cure.

I still had ear drops left so I took them and it stopped the ear infection. But then my chronic sinus problems went into full blown cold symptoms by Thursday night. No fun for anyone and hard to keep the business running.

I gave myself Friday off, cancelling the only appointment of the day which would have been in my office. For once, I spent the day on the couch, watching TV, taking cold remedies, and napping.

Yesterday, I kept the three appointments but two were in Florida and one was in southern Wisconsin. All were via Zoom. Since they were scheduled to leave the afternoon open, I returned to my trusty couch for the afternoon.

Blog breakdown

As I was home bound, I started getting ready to write another blog post yesterday. My sharing tools were acting up and I thought I could quick fix them. Every post had a double everything. It annoyed me. I uninstalled and reinstalled. No improvement.

My sharing tool developed check marks that opened a gray window but didn’t share anything. I uninstalled that too and reinstalled. Finally, yesterday morning, I gave up in disgust!

In the middle of the night, I realized I thought I knew the solution.

I’ll rebound and my budget will get back on track and I will plan even better in the future. My blog is fixed and plug-ins working again. But I know there will be a bump when I am sailing along again. Some storm that I am not totally ready for will blow up.

You can let these storms in life, bumps in the road, troubled times derail you or sink you, or you can step back and think it through. The solutions may not be easy and they may not be cost-free but you will survive.

Don’t give up!

Everyday I hear from someone whose life got hit with problems far bigger than my current ones.

You will struggle. It is a given. But don’t give up. Keep sailing along!

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