I have been looking forward to the month of March for a few weeks now. Admittedly, I have never been a fan of the winter. When the winter season has been as rough as it has been in the Northeastern United States this year, I know it just intensifies my feelings to move forward. And, while as a coach I have been taught to live in the present, in the moment as you will, it is difficult to do so when my day to day routines in the present get shuffled around, often by forces outside of my control.
It is human tendency to dwell on the negative. For the job searcher it is rehashing the interview they have just taken, and berating one self for what they believe they said wrong during the conversation with a perspective employer. Others will chastise their choice of college, choice of town where they chose to live, career they decided to pursue or choice of mate. And, the more we get stuck on what we have not done, or what did not go our way, the more likely we keep stuck where we are and do not take steps forward.
When I went through my training as a career coach I remember my studies taking me to the topic of rejection letters. The author’s advice for job seekers was “rejection letters don’t count”. Yes, a rejection letter might mean that the job opening you were pursuing at company ABC was not going to be offered to you. However, if you were doing your search process as recommended, it would be only one of several opportunities you would have going at any one time. In fact, the more options one would keep open to exploring, the more likely they provided one self a direction to go when one of them was no longer feasible. So, that rejection letter is really a signal to get a fresh start toward another opportunity, not the end of all one’s hopes and dreams.
While March is the month that is the end of the winter season, it is also the one that is the beginning of the spring season. Spring is always seen as the sign of rebirth, particularly in nature. The days continue to get longer. More activities tend to move outdoor. The fresh start that the month of March brings is one of the best tonics to put the depressing days of a snowy and cold winter into the rearview mirror of life.
So use the upcoming change of season to spring for yourself as a time to move forward with your life. If you have been dwelling on what has not been getting done, or on what you have not moved forward during the first two months of 2014, put those thoughts behind you and pick out those items you want to do next. Will all your choices turn out the way you expect? Some will and likely some will not. When you choose to leave yourself free to accept outcomes as they happen, as fresh new starts from which to move forward, it keeps you from getting stuck where you are.
I know given how frustrated and tired I became during this past winter season, I’m looking to accept what happens in my life from a different perspective. How willing are you to join me in looking toward that fresh start to reinvigorate your 2014?
