Every Setback Is A Sentence In Your Future Acceptance Speech

My sister, like so many post-college 20somethings, is struggling right now with her place in life.

She wants to be contributing something positive to society, making a decent living at it, but all she has found are part-time jobs with little-to-no connection to her college major or her ambitions for herself.

I try to give her pep talks and remind her that her value isn’t in a paycheck and that maybe these setbacks are a set-up to something greater that she just can’t see yet. I don’t know how well she’s listening (funny how we can’t see the forest when we’re surrounded by trees) but I wanted to share the same message to any one of my readers who might be struggling in the same situation.

When I’m stressed about something, I tell myself that this is simply the opening line of my acceptance speech one day in the future when I’m on stage being given an award for my contributions to the world of media.

“When I told certain people about my idea…they laughed at me…”

“My bank account was bleeding money…I literally could not make money fast enough…”

“My kids would have to come over to me and shut my laptop for me. All I heard was ‘Mommy, you work too much‘…”

We all struggle. We all have setbacks that look like the end of our story. When that happens to me, I write about it. I want the emotions and memories to be clear as day when I go back to look at what I’ve overcome and accomplished. It’s part of the reason I blog about the hard stuff in my life.

Promise me this: Next time you feel defeated or frustrated in some area of your life, practice your acceptance speech. Talk about those setbacks as a set-up to something greater, even if you can’t see it yet.