pillars

To rebuild a life.  I was talking to a friend the other day about how to start over when you find your life in complete shambles.  It is certainly a difficult topic, but here is what advice I have.

1.  Don't focus on, or be overcome by the emotions of the moment.  If you do, they will paralyze you and you will find yourself stuck and depressed.  Focus on what you can do, not what you can't do.

2.  Identify the core pillars of a successful life and work on them.  Each time you get one in place, your life will feel more stable.  Pillar #1- get a job and hold the job.  Make your employer happy.  Make yourself indispensable to the corporation.  Put up with whatever is painful.  Every job has it's difficulties.  People that can hold a job can solve their problems on nights and weekends.  If you can't hold a job, nothing else will work for you.

3.  Pillar #2- figure out where you are at with God.  Find a church.  Clarify your beliefs.  Read something that will inspire you.  Begin to allow your faith to shape who you are and what you are about.

4.  Pillar #3 - Live within your means.  Make good financial decisions.  Attend Financial Peace University.  Manage what you have or it will manage you.

5.  Pillar #4 - work on you.  Get a counselor or a Stephen minister, or a friend and work on you.  Tell them about your life and listen to their advice.  No one is very good at seeing their own weaknesses.  Be brave enough to discover them and work on them.  The healthier that you are, the healthier your relationships with others will be.

6.  Pillar #5 -  Make friends......look for people that you want to spend time with and invest in them.  Work on spending time with people that are good for you. 

7.  Learn to live with difficulty.  There are going to be good days and difficult days.  Don't trade your car on a whim, don't quit your job in a huff, when things get tough, take a deep breath and find the healthy side of who you are.  Regular communication with our Father can help a great deal with this.

I hope that there is no one out there who is needing to start their life over, but if you are there, I hope that some of this helps.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.  And sometimes the good is found, one step at a time.