Lemonade, anyone?

I have always been a diligent and dedicated worker.  I believe in giving my all to a project and always doing my best.  Maybe this trait was instilled in me early on when I realized that when I kept busy working, my parents were happy and pleased with me.  Good trait??  Usually, it is, but there are drawbacks.  In many cases, I tend to get taken advantage of.  I seem to be giving too much and not leaving any for myself.  This overcompensation is likely one of my flaws as a person, and I have tapped into it because I wanted to be liked.

Ever since I was young, I have maintained gainful employment and believed in earning what I needed.  My parents were financially well off for the region of the country where we resided , but my father was very frugal and controlling with money.  He felt that if he paid the household bills, he was a good provider and that was all he needed to do.  He did not believe in spending too much money on anything. We never ate out, went to movies or did any recreational things.   But we had a nice home, acres of land and nice cars.

About  two years ago I ran into some trouble at my workplace.   I broke a policy regarding outside employment.   Granted, I was working the additional job to gather money to make my daughter’s college expenses more affordable, and I was making certain she and I  were reasonably comfortable.  I didn’t do wasteful things with the additional money, I didn’t have time .  I wanted her to have a stress free financial life in college, and I wanted to reduce my stress as she transitioned away from home.  I was making up for the lack of a second income and a mate/partner in my home.

Working the other job was probably one of the biggest career mistakes I could have made.  Once my primary employer found out, I was suspended for 4 months without pay and my ability to work certain types of outside employment was taken away.  I am single and I need this additional source of income desperately, and I will admit I am still suffering financially from this chain of events.  Granted I am working part-time at menial hit or miss jobs, but I just feel so burdened and I am not really making ends meet.

I was shocked and hurt by the suspension and the effect this has had on my career.   I have had to come to terms with the fact that while WORKING is not a wrong thing, breaking a company policy to do so is.  Of course the person who reported me could have refrained from doing that, and none of this would have happened. I can’t worry about why the person reported me, they will have to deal with a higher power on that one.  However, I did get a valuable lesson...this person was able to, with no regret, let the right people know what was going on and therefore cause me trouble.   This person altered my life with a series of keystrokes.

How much of this is my fault?  Every bit of it, because I made the choice to break the policy.  Part of being an adult is taking responsibility for your “stuff”. I know of another employment-based   case where a person did “the right thing for the wrong reason”.  They broke a policy with legal ramifications, and unfortunately, while the punishment this person received was rather harsh, the responsibility for the act lies at their feet.

As you go about life, you never know what will be thrown your way, or what decisions you will be forced to make. When you make a decision sometimes you don’t know until much later on that this might not be the best choice.  Be careful not to judge a person and their situation or choices they make.  The easiest thing to do is stand on the outside and pass judgment. If I could have a re-do, I certainly would have made a different choice, but  I now have to deal with THIS choice. I MUST make lemonade out of lemons.

Creative Arts  Activity

The Lemons to Lemonade Collage

Make a collage that demonstrates the principle of using what’s available to you and making it work

Items needed

Glue

Scissors

A canvas or other more durable art paper

10 random items  small enough to fit on your canvas/paper

The possibilities are endless but here are a few examples of items you can use

A picture from a magazine of a baby

A picture of an appliance

Loose jewels with adhesive backing

A photo of you as a child

Dried flowers

Several pieces of decorative ribbon or shredded colored paper

A ticket from the last entertainment event you attended (movies, concert, play

Three slogans  from popular products cut  from magazines