Setbacks Aren't Signs to Quit

Takeaways:

1. Setbacks are not signs to quit.

2. Don't give in to doubts and fears of others or your own.

3. Setbacks will introduce you to another version of yourself you haven't discovered

Raise your hand if you hate moving.

Moving is the worst, right? All the packing, lifting and stacking.....it leaves you exhausted. Not only that, the journey of traveling from a familiar place to an unfamiliar place can be uncomfortable and unpredictable. Does anything ever go according to plan when we’re moving? Nope. Somehow there’s always a delay. Something always gets damaged, broken or lost.

But, does that keep us from moving? Of course not! There’s much to be learned about moving. In fact, one of my biggest lessons learned about setbacks was on a moving day in 2015. A few years prior, I embarked upon a huge transition...going from a married mom of four children to a single mom of four children. Then I had the nerve to come up with the crazy idea of moving two hours away from the only home I've ever known because I wanted a fresh start. Needless to say, my family wasn’t all that thrilled about the idea and I know it was out of love and concern. But how many of you ever had a desire so deep, so compelling that you were fully convinced that it was right the thing for you? Yeah, that’s where I was.

So, it’s moving day. I'm feeling pretty confident because I had recently landed a great job as contract instructional designer for the Airforce and was able to work from home. This was huge for me, after all, I was a single mom and a grad student, I was wrapping up my Masters degree in Instructional Design and Technology and was so grateful to have an opportunity to work a job in my actual field! How often does that happen? Things were looking up and I was sure that I made the right decision.

As I was loading the final items in the uHaul trailer, my phone rang. It was my manager. Now when I saw his name on my caller ID, I didn’t think much of it….you know, I thought he was just checking in on how I was adjusting to things or asking me if I needed anything as he usually did. However, nothing and I mean nothing, prepared me for the reason for this call. It took him a long time to get to the point.