When You Can’t See the Reasons

Early in my corporate banking career, my boss of five years left abruptly and upset my comfy little apple cart. We were a tiny department plunked amidst bigger fish. It was him, one other admin and myself. I didn’t lose my job, but I was dumped into the hands of another department’s management group and they weren’t very nice. In fact, two of the people I immediately reported to made up a lie about me jeopardizing a long established relationship I had spent six years building. They later admitted to the lie, but not before I took a job in a neighboring department just to escape their callousness. My new boss wasn’t nice either. She was the type who would yell at her employees in front of other people, causing embarrassment for all. I was sad and resentful that I was forced out of my previous job and dreaded going to work each day.

I made friends with people I hadn’t interacted with before, including my immediate neighbor who trained me in. I would not have survived in that position without her. We remain friends to this day. Another colleague confided in me several months later that she had applied for a position with a competitor in the industry. She told me they were hiring more people and encouraged me to apply. I did and was offered a new position. I was able to leave my dismal job before one year had even passed.

I loved my previous job. My boss and I had grown the business line organically through our hard work and commitment to building and maintaining relationships. In a few short years, the two of us were bringing in over a million dollars in annual revenue. It was a great fit for my work style and I enjoyed interacting with our customers. In fact, most of them became friends. I was proficient, polished and got a tremendous amount of work done every day. Despite not being appreciated by management, I looked forward to going to work. In the long run, our efforts were overlooked, which eventually lead to my boss and I leaving.

In less than two years at my new job, my salary nearly doubled, I was promoted twice and had three more weeks of vacation to enjoy. My bosses were encouraging, not vindictive and spiteful; I loved them. I was appreciated and once again, I looked forward to going to work. Even though I left my previous job feeling a bit indignant, the experience I gained in the six years I was there contributed to the skill set, qualifications and knowledge I needed to move into a better position.

This was a convincing lesson about hindsight being 20/20. It would help me in my personal life in the years to come. It’s the belief, or, truly the knowing, that clouds have silver linings and it’s darkest before the dawn (thank you Helen Keller for those nuggets of wisdom). A bit of irony that a blind woman was so wise about seeing life through a more favorable lens. All of the above mean the same thing: Once we’ve weathered a storm, we can look back and see what was gained by having gone through it, and, likely come away with survival skills for the next one.

“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer”. -Corrie tenBoom

When we have our eyes tested, a chart is used to measure our visual acuity, which is the sharpness or keenness of thought, vision, or hearing. Having 20/20 vision means you can see clearly each row of letters from twenty feet away. Anything beyond 20/20 means that in order to see clearly you have to stand at a greater distance. This makes perfect sense when applied to life lessons; the further away you get from a situation, the more clear it becomes, hence hindsight is 20/20! Our accuity should naturally increase over time. Standing right in front of something does not always offer the clearest view. We have to step back and see the bigger picture.

Subtraction is often an addition. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. The taking away is often where we receive, and often as unexpectedly as what was taken. A little confusing? Had my boss not left and forced me into another position, I would not have met the colleague that eventually led me to landing on my feet in a much better place two years later. Subtracting the job I didn’t like from my life, led me to adding one that was more conducive to my overall well-being and growth as a human. What I saw as something being taken from me, was a set up for something greater.

Trusting this process is not easy, however if I was writing a novel and not a blog, I could tell a thousand more stories of how I have witnessed this in my life and the lives of people I know.
Not giving up, or jumping off the train too soon, reveals a trust in something greater than ourselves. It is a trust that the answers we seek don’t often come when we want them to, but they do. They come not at the 20/20 level, more likely from 20/5280!

“In order to realize the worth of the anchor, we need to feel the stress of the storm”.
-Corrie tenBoom

Trees change their leaves, not their roots. Corrie tenBoom is a holocaust survivor. Her story is compelling and profound. I can’t speak for her and say that while she was in the darkest place any of us could possibly imagine, she didn’t think about jumping off the train. I do know from her writings in the years that followed, she did trust in something greater to get her through. She went on to speak internationally of her survival, never giving up and trusting that our stories will be weaved into rewards we don’t see coming, She remains a world renowned, respected and loved voice for embracing the bigger picture and not getting lost in the storm.