I knew in my heart at a young age that I was meant to do something else other than being trapped in a 9-5 job; doing the same things over and over again. While I have nothing against employment, I just felt that I wasn’t cut for it (just like not everyone’s for entrepreneurship). I finally had my shot with operating a brick-and-mortar business a few months ago and it started good. But as with any business, the start up phase is always the hardest— many adjustments, trials and errors, “testing the water” among others.
My first supplier of goods overpriced me which already accounted for loss income-wise, there was a misunderstanding with my space’s contract which also cost me money, the sale was slow for a few weeks prior, i have no employee at the shop because the last one had to terminate her job with us due to unexpected family issues— all of these contributed to delays of bill payments and as of this writing, some unpaid ones. And yes, coupled with personal challenges that I wish not to share in this post.
For someone who was always enveloped from the harsh realities of life, this was my first taste of big time stress! Wherever I look, personal or career, it seems that nothing has gone my way (or at least what I expected them to be).
Instead of sulking and feeling sorry for myself, I turned to listening more to motivational podcasts and my current favorite is Terri Savelle Foy (Christian book author, conference speaker and success coach); seems that her messages spoke right through me. I heard her say and I quote:
Transition is God’s way of promotion.
According to dictionary.com; transition means “movement” or “passage”. Whatever ‘transition’ is in your current circumstance, it’s God’s way of promoting you and your life.It may not seem to be the best, it might even be painful in the beginning, trust that it’s there to teach you something valuable to better you and your life.
For me, it’s slapping me on the face that I need to get my horses together and gradually transition to being independent. I have always banked on my parents for everything, even after having Saehee (my daughter as a single mom), and now I realize that there’s more out there in the real world than just my overly-dependent self. I am at a point right now that I try not to ask anything from them anymore, not unless I really have to and I have no other choice. I know that they’re always willing to help, but I think that it’s time to lighten their load a bit after twenty eight long years of my dependency on them. It ain’t cool to be a leech, you know!
Also, this experience taught me to be more mindful of decisions and actions to take. I was an immature young lady who would make decisions out of emotion and most likely than not, I ended up regretting. What was even worse is that I wasn’t brave enough to face the consequences!
See, all these trials that I’m currently facing positioned me at my tipping point. It’s like God’s saying to me, “Wake up, Geline! It’s not what and where I want you to be. You are and you deserve more than that.”
Without these complications, I would not have worked on becoming the person that God wants me to be. There’s a motivational quote and I’m going to paraphrase it but the gist is that, “When you feel devastated, almost to a point of giving up, that’s when your miracle is about to happen.” So don’t give up! God is only preparing you for a higher position; He wants to make sure that you’re ready for the “job description”.
