Finding The Silver Lining

“Our happiness is certainly mixed in with the tragedies of life. You have to find the lemonade. You have to find the silver lining in the middle of everything that happens in life.” – Chandra Wilson

Have you ever had something go “wrong” in your life only to discover that it actually created something even better for you?

I know that I have. Some of the difficult times actually led something even better than I could have imagined.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the time that I almost didn’t apply for my job at the Space Center because I didn’t want to be rejected (What Have You Got To Lose? https://iampurpledawn.com/2019/08/12/what-have-you-got-to-lose/ ). Now I would like to tell you about the “screw up” that led to that.

When I was graduating college, I interviewed for what I thought would be an amazing software internship with an engineering firm. Things were going well until the interviewer asked me what I would like to be doing in five years. I said I would like to be living in Florida (we were in Indiana at the time). My interview was basically over at that point. I was so upset that I had “screwed up” that interview!

I ended up taking a job that wasn’t really what I wanted to be doing, but I needed to start making money so I took it.

Now we come to the story from my previous blog where my first husband and I decided to visit his parents here in Florida for Christmas. I told my supervisor that I wanted to take off the week of Christmas and he said OK.

Everyone was upset that I was getting the time off.  They demanded to know how I was granted that privilege and I replied, “I just said that I would like to take the time off.”, I didn’t realize that most people couldn’t get time off for Christmas. All I did was ask!

This is where the silver lining comes in. Most likely, had I gotten the job with the engineering firm, I would not have been allowed to take off at Christmas. Which means that I would not have been in Florida to see the Sunday newspaper with the ad for software engineers for the Space Shuttle Program. And thus I would not have worked on the Space Shuttle program for 28 years!

My “screw up” created me getting my Space Shuttle job!

So when you are looking at the difficult times, the screw ups, the “dark times”, know that on the other side of that or even deep within it, is often the silver lining that will create something wonderful for you.

It may be that it shows you just how strong and resilient you are. Or it may reveal who has your back and who doesn’t. Perhaps it will allow you to release people, things and situations that are not benefitting you.

Or it may, like mine, allow you to be exactly where you need to be when you need to be there.

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