This is a stressful, painful, and trying time for many of us, particularly those who have found themselves unemployed following a round of “strategic workforce reductions.”
You may not have wanted the change, but it’s here nonetheless. Get over the loss, get over the doom and gloom mentality, and see this as an opportunity to hit a reset button on life. You will survive this recession, I will survive this recession and America will survive this recession. It will likely take another two or three years but we will bounce back stronger than ever.
To be sure, before this ends we will suffer the loss of more jobs, homes, savings, and investments, but I dare say that at the end of this recession we will be a better nation for having experienced it.
Several years from now we will reflect on this downturn as a period in which housing prices were brought back into alignment with average household incomes, credit ceased being extended to those who couldn’t afford to repay it, the average American started saving more and spending smarter, gas prices and airfare fell from great heights, fiscal responsibility was taken off the back burner, the Detroit Big 3 discovered that using complacent practices to make bad cars won’t cut it, innovation and small business were given a chance to sprout and grow, and each of us had a moment to reflect on that which we have taken for granted.
We live in a bubble in this grand country of ours, and for the time being we have been given a rare opportunity to see life outside of it. You will find a new job and you will rebuild your savings and investments. Don’t think for a second that you can’t rock through this. No matter how disheartening the present and near future may be, don’t lose sight of the big picture.
Some Silver-Lining Thoughts from Around the Globe:
Chris Ruhm, an economics professor at the University of North Carolina
“People get physically healthier and mortality rates fall during bad economic times. It’s the opposite of what I expected to find.” Studying recessions since the 1970s, Ruhm found that deaths from car accidents (fewer miles driven?) decreased, but so did deaths from heart attacks, strokes, flu and pneumonia.
Austrian-Czech economist Joseph Schumpeter
“Creative destruction” is intrinsic to the nature of capitalism. “Economic progress in capitalist society means turmoil.”
Rick Haythornthwaite, chairman of MasterCard and head of the Southbank Arts Centre in London
“My hope is that some of the most talented people will go back into science-based and engineering careers. So much of the financial sector is a zero-sum game, whereas science and engineering create sustainable wealth. That’s what’s going to get us out of this recession. It’s a good thing that jobs in the financial services are now so much less appealing.”
From the blog, “One Caveman’s Financial Journey”
We need a recession like a forest needs forest fires. A forest fire is a violent, painful experience for the forest and all who live in it. In a matter of days or weeks, everything is seemingly wiped out and reduced to a field of char. But once the flames have disappeared and the rain returns, new life springs from the rubble. The fire removed all the old growth and tree corpses, returned their nutrients to the soil, and prepared the land for new growth. Young trees and grasses sprout again, the animals return, and the now-young forest thrives. It’s a natural cycle that trades shorter-term losses for long-term gains.
Just like the forest, our economy is an ecosystem of a different shade of green. Over time, the shells of dead and dying companies litter the economic landscape, old tried-and-true methods and thoughts aren’t so true anymore, and we discover that we’ve spread ourselves a little too thin. The situation begs for a forest fire to come and clean up the waste.
Michael Hyatt, President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers
1. It causes you to get more creative.
2. It forces you to make the tough decisions.
3. It thins out the competition.
4. It makes you realize you can’t take anything for granted.
5. It reminds you that real wealth isn’t about the stuff you own.
6. It fosters out-of-the-box thinking.
7. It makes it easier to abandon business-as-usual.
8. It brings you back to the basics.
9. It accelerates change.
10. It causes you to be less wasteful.
Photo credits: djordje and claude@munich
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Yes, we are definitely in a painful place and it is no consolation to the recently-unemployed that their jobs were a “necessary casualty,” but when we come out the other side, we will be much better off for it. I’m fortunate to still have my job and I do not take it for granted. Hopefully this won’t last much longer, but we must remain prepared for it to linger. Thank you for finding my article and I look forward to reading more here.