I spent the late part of last year trying to help a friend jump back unto his feet. Without any strength needed to chase life left in him, I struggled to let him see the countless reasons why he should keep going and the fact that his life is far better than millions of others, contrary to what he believes…
My friend lost his job mid last year and after spending weeks looking for a new one without any success, he decided to take his little savings and a bit of loan he obtained to start his own business—a brilliant move I said at the time.
Just 3 months down the line, he was back on the job hunting journey. His flat was packed with products he purchased to sell as no one was even asking for the prices, let alone buying one.
The saying that it is when you are at your lowest that every other thing decide to fall apart must be true since my friend’s girlfriend decided to end their 4 years relationship just before December.
Without love, job, money or any sense of future, it was difficult to let my friend see beyond the moment without coming up as giving him false hope. To him, his life was the worst and there was no reason to keep hoping for anything better.
I can’t say his situation was not bad since I pray no one has to find himself or herself in that situation but the reality of it all is that, he was far better than millions of other people who do not even have shelters over their heads, in hospitals, have not eaten for days and those who have found themselves in war zones.
When a man is down like this, the last thing you would want to tell him is how bad the lives of others are and as such, he should ‘rejoice’ in his misery. But for a person to re-gain his strength and hope, such a person must be made to realize the light ahead and also the fact that, he is not really at the bottom as he may be thinking…
I invited my friend over one night to watch a documentary on Iraq and the sort of deprived situations millions of Iraqis have found themselves in—with many having had their families killed.
After watching the documentary I jokingly asked; would you want to swap your situation for that of the man who has lost all his legs to a road side bomb attack? He looked at me and said, hell no…That is too much, though unfortunate for him.
Gradually, we were began to agree that, his situation was not the worst and there was no reason why he couldn’t bounce back and make something better out of his life…
I am not asking you to dwell on the fact that the lives of others are worse than yours so you should not strive to move ahead or cry when hit hard. All I am trying to let you see is the truth; what you call your worst day would be quickly stolen by someone if you ever leave it on the market.
As long as you have life, nothing should stop you from bouncing back from the worst situation…
Today, my friend has a new job and he says; he has a big problem on his head—-he has two beautiful women on his case and he is struggling to decide who to be with.
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