The difference a day can make...

I have been struggling this past week with frustration and quite frankly depression. It all stemmed from my husband receiving a punishment at work of 8 days forced days off. As someone on 100 percent commission this was tough.. On the heels of a week"s vacation last month and a slow start in September, a slow first quarter of the year and two weeks with no paycheck this put a great strain on us.. This can turn around pretty quickly but having to watch my husband whipping in the wind was the worst. He works so hard for us and was punished for asking for a remeasure on a job that was drastically different from what the crew came back with and meant over $2500 difference in commission. What makes it worse is that the owner is paranoid after years of having employees do unspeakable things to siphon off jobs from the company to friends or family in the same business... Twice this millonare accussed my husband of this but when unfounded said, he understood my husband was a man of intergrity.... My husband asked for the same right the millionare had to investigate a potential fraud. When working for a smaller company and the owner throws a fit... there is nothing anyone can do...There are other perks like trips and the beach house vacation, the year he gave 1 million to employees who had been with him 5 years or more (we got $10.000).

That's the situation but not at all the point of my writing this... I was really struggling this past week and today had a complete total mindset shift. I am so glad that i put my gratitude list at the end of my blog posts daily as they really pull me back to center... Today I looked at my two middle children studying for SAT and GRE tesing and it hit me, I was looking at two future Doctor's (one going for PHD in Psychology and other going for MD degree hoping to be an eye surgeon)... On top of that my youngest homeschooler actually wrote an entire paragraph and had fun with it.... This is huge for the child he was just three years ago before homeschooling... My cup runneth over and I know that the financial worries can turn around fairly quickly.

Just wanted to share my solution in case it can in anyway help anyone else!

12 years ago

Lyn D.

Veteran

Thanks Tracey, sometimes we need to stop to consider all the good things we have that money can't buy- family, nice homes and great kids.
Then we can put the not-so-good stuff into perspective and feel the gratitude that positivity brings.

Hil

(website)

Thanks for that Tracey! I do try and practice gratitude myself. Last week I went through an extremely bad patch at work with my boss and I just felt so overwhelmed with anger and resentment. The best I could muster in terms of gratitude was that it gave me the clarity I needed about committing to changing jobs - something that I have sort of been avoiding thinking about. But even that little bit of gratitude for the clarity gave me the energy to pull myself out of my hole of anger and move on.

Suz

Sorry to hear about the troubles for your husband, and glad that you were able to find a way to recognize all the joys still present in life even in the face of the stress.

Glory

Tracey very sorry to hear about the stress and difficulties your DH is experiencing at the moment. It sounds challenging. Good job on finding some positive balance during this rough spot.

Janet

Sorry about your husband's employment troubles. I'm hearing a lot of stories around here about people hunkering down for the upcoming sequestration cuts.

Good for you for remembering to keep it all in perspective. I give thanks every day for all the things we tend to take for granted -- health is a huge one, since we have several friends battling cancer. Your kids sound like a true blessing.

Ornella

Tracy, you remind me of what I once read "It's not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy." I love reading gratitudes on your blog and I am so happy they came as healing instrument now when you needed pick-me-up.

Anonymous

I'm sorry to hear of the troubles your DH is going through. I love Ornellas' quote above about gratitude and you are really embracing that. Thanks for reminding us all to be grateful and think of the good things in life.

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