You’re a compassionate person, right? If a friend applies for a job and doesn’t get it, you’ll show up with ice cream saying there, there, won’t you? You probably encouraged her to apply for the position in the first place even though it was a stretch.
But when you’re the one who has gone for a job that might be a above your current title or salary and you’re not the candidate chosen, how do you treat yourself?
Susan David, Ph.D., an award-winning psychologist and author said, “Compassion gives us the freedom to redefine ourselves as well as the all-important freedom to fail, which contains within it the freedom to take the risks that allow us to be truly creative.”
Why are we so willing to be there for others but not for ourselves?
Life requires us to take risks. What if you have never taken a chance in your life because you were afraid you’d fail. What would your life look like? You might still be living in your childhood bedroom working at the job you got in high school with no love life.
Seriously, take a look at the risks you’ve taken in your life. Here are some of mine.
A couple of unusual risks: I took an exam to get into the private high school I wanted to go to and filled out the little dots horizontally instead of vertically. Oops. So I went to the public high school where I got my start in public speaking because the forensics (public-speaking competition) coach thought I had talent. I was also able to graduate early and went on my own to study in Paris.
And the more usual ones: I got married. I had two children. I handled my own divorce (no lawyer!) when my marriage got threadbare. I got married a second time, which meant leaving a job I loved and moved myself and my kids to a new state. What if it turned out my kids hated Illinois? What if I never got a good job ever again?
Did any of those risks come with stress? You know they didn’t. Was success guaranteed? Nope. Am I happy I took a chance on myself? Absolutely.
How is your life better because you dared to dare?
What should you dare to take on next?