Draft #121, and counting...

"Living involves tearing up one rough draft after another."
- Unknown

Over the past few months, I feel like I'm seeing debate and controversy all around me. From continued political battles to witnessing troubled relationships and changes in the workplace, there are constant struggles all around. What I've realized, however, is that this is always the case, I'm just more aware of them right now. The quote above me made me think that maybe I'm tearing up a rough draft of what I thought I knew and am starting to write another, which has led me to be more aware of what's going on around me.

Let's not kid ourselves, anything can happen at any time that can change our careers forever. Just look at what's happening in the Gulf of Mexico, the devastating oil spill took what were lucrative fishing and shrimping businesses and made them obsolete in that region for years to come. Those fisherman have to forget everything they knew to be reliable and start over again. What they thought was a good living turns out to be just a "rough draft" that they have to tear up and rewrite. This can happen on much smaller levels as well, such as a new boss who wants to run things differently, long time clients that go in a different direction, or regulations that may alter the way business is done in your industry.

Our personal lives aren't much different either. We rely on the people around us to maintain a certain moral standard, keep up with their responsibilities and make good decisions in order to not negatively impact our own lives. So what happens when they slip up (we all do at some time or another)? Then you write another rough draft. Dwelling on what was, and what should have been isn't going to get you moving back in the right direction very quickly. Make a decision on the new direction you must take, and start moving!

I consider myself a pretty adaptable person, so I've likely torn up over a hundred rough drafts in my lifetime so far. Thinking back now, it's when I'm more aware of the struggles around me that I'm likely to be writing a new rough draft. Being young and a business owner, I'm likely to still have another hundred rough drafts to write in my lifetime, if not more. The important thing is to continue to seek out what you can learn from so when you're nearing the end of your life, the story you've written will be a good one.