For those of you not in Chicago, we here in the Midwest have been experiencing a veritable heat wave this week, the peak of which rolled in today with temperatures skyrocketing above the 60-degree mark.
Just when I began to forget that bitter cold isn’t a permanent reality for this city, this little midwinter treat has reminded me that better days do indeed lie ahead.
I took the train downtown today to meet a friend of a friend who works for a real estate marketing/PR firm. He was kind enough to sit down for an extended lunch with me and proceeded to give me some valuable advice in regard to my continuing job search.
After lunch, I had some time to kill before catching the next train back home. On previous such excursions downtown, extra time was an unwelcome nuisance. Too cold to stay outside, I’d rush to the station only to sit and observe people racing by, peeking continuously at my watch until the outbound train was prepared for boarding.
Today, I had a particularly long time to wait, and at first I was annoyed at the prospect of twiddling my thumbs. But then I stepped outside and remembered that it wasn’t cold at all and in fact it was a very pleasant, sunny day. A perfect day to walk along the river and explore some new corners of the city before circling back to the station.
As I strolled and finally paused for a few minutes overlooking the river, I began to think about how nothing, really, is permanent. And about how many of life’s most important decisions are based on conditions that, at that moment, are viewed as permanent.
An extreme example of this is a few stories I’ve heard recently about people ending their own lives under the pressure of the plummeting stock market. These people must have viewed their previous, likely high-on-the-hog economic standing as permanent. And they must have viewed their recent woes as permanent as well.
I’m clearly simplifying these people's situations, but the point is that life has a way of taking unexpected twists and turns. It’s foolish to allow success to inflate our heads or failure to deflate our hearts. Those ups and downs do not define us unless we allow them to. And that would be a mistake on either account.
I couldn’t have told you midyear last year that I would be sitting here writing this blog entry overlooking Lake Michigan. And I certainly can’t tell you right now how I will be spending my time this summer. The one thing I CAN tell you is that anything is possible. And I, for one, am always ready.
I love following the links on your blog, Dan. Thanks for all the side trips!
Posted by: Carol Hindin | February 11, 2009 at 10:25 PM
Hi Dan,
Great post, I get definitly relate to what you are going through :)
Keep it up and good luck
Posted by: martin | February 11, 2009 at 03:00 PM