Usually snow days put me in the dumps. For one thing, I work by the hour, and my college is always closed when it snows–no make-up snowdays for part-timers. In South Carolina, it doesn’t snow very often, but snow that Yankees would not even notice shuts down everything here. I did not pay much attention to the rumored weather predictions, but when I woke up at 4 am and could see clearly from the street light outside my house, I knew the white stuff had landed.
Even though I knew it wouldn’t get much lighter during the day, I got up at 6 and started catching up on some tasks that I would have saved for the weekend. I watched as the snow began to fall off the trees and the roads melted from slush to wet. I had to admit that it was pretty and peaceful.
I posted a list of resources for Christian writers on my Wise Author blog, and set out to find some ezines for article submissions. I took a few pix outside because it’s a law here that you have to document snow. I had an enlightening conversation with my friend about why the poverty-conscious rednecks we know are so hateful towards those who have some money, especially since the “haves” generally worked for it, possibly with some more knowledge, education, or skill that the “have nots” haven’t.
Her family had much more money than mine did as we werer growing up, which we discussed, but she does not judge others by their income. On the other hand, her sensitive spot is her education, since she for various reasons, did not go to college. What we came up with for an answer was that people who don’t know what to do may project their own feelings of worthlessness as anger towards those who do know what to do. Since she and I are in a MLM business, part of the discussion was on how to teach someone what to do, so that they would feel confident enough to do even without skill, and to be willing to get past that irrational resentment.
It is a lot easier to be angry and resentful, than it is to face uncertainty and possible failure. It’s much easier to watch TV or play cards or do any number of distrating things and complain about how unfair life is than it is to take a step in a new direction with focus and determination. It is also hard to look back and see that one hasn’t done nearly what could have been done, but water that’s already flowed under the bridge is very hard to swallow (grin).
This conversation gave me a lot of insights to how much my perspectives have changed on so many topics. For example, I don’t complain about my job, wish it was Friday on Monday afternoon, or check the clock constantly for going-home time. I am glad to be employed at the moment. I am working towards the day when I can work three hours a day on the computer instead of ten to twelve or sixteen, but where I am now is good, much better than in times past.
In studying about how to earn money on the internet, I have felt stuck by the feeling that I did n’t ahve anything to make into a product, nothing that I could sell to anyone. But that’s just that old redneck whining, which I gave up when I went back to grad school. I don’t know everything I need to know to be sucessful, but I now that learning comes from doing, evaluating, doing, evaluating, and then doing again. Not Trying. Doing.
Then this afternoon, my copy of James Brausch’s Earn a Living by Creating Your Own DVD arrived! I’m going to be learning by doing this afternoon. I’m still looking for a subject for my product. Anybody have any ideas?
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