As an oilfield family, we’ve had our shares of hard times but by the grace of God, we’ve made it through them all. There have been rough patches when things looked bleak…but we never gave up because one thing I strongly believe is – if you don’t like how things are, change them! Take control of your life and do something about it.
My family has had an adventurous life, and it wasn’t by chance. We have always been willing to try new things. When my husband had gone as far as he could at his job in Colorado, he didn’t just accept it. We actively searched until he got another job. It was frightening and at times we wanted to give up. We started thinking that just staying at that job (and being miserable) was easier than continuing to search. But through prayer and perseverance, he found another job. He had to commute back and forth from Colorado to Alaska every month, but it turned out to be the change his career needed. Taking chances led to change! Then, when we were tired of where we lived, tired of the rat race, tired of being stuck in a rut, and we didn’t want our kids to grow up in suburbia and a lousy school district – we up and moved 3,000 miles away! It wasn’t the best financial decision we ever made, but you have to take some risks in life. It was only two years after the slowdown of ’08, so it probably wasn’t the wisest time to spend our life savings moving across country, but we did it anyway. We didn’t just sit around and complain, we got up and changed our circumstances. It was scary, but oh so worth it! Instead of staying miserable by continuing down the same path, we forged a new path and it turned out to be great.
My advice to anyone that’s not completely satisfied with their lives would simply be to take action. Live your life. If you don’t like where you are – move. If you aren’t happy with your job – look for a new one. It might mean broadening your search to 3,000 miles away. Be willing to try something new even if it doesn’t fit what you envisioned your life looking like. That’s part of the fun and excitement. I never thought I’d be living in Alaska and homeschooling, but if I hadn’t been willing to take risks and try new things, I would have missed out on the biggest of adventure of my life.
Of course finances can keep us from following all our dreams, that’s the cold hard reality of life. But that’s no excuse to stay stuck. Taking a chance doesn’t cost anything. Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone to get some place better.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying I have it all figured out. We have made mistakes along the way – but one thing I can say for certain is if you don’t try something new, your life will never change. There seems to be a lot of people feeling sorry for themselves these days. They are unhappy with their jobs, the schools, their towns, their relationships, their lives…but they aren’t doing anything about it. You have got to be proactive! If you aren’t willing to offer a solution to the problem, then I don’t believe you are entitled to whine about it.
As a family we try new things. We take risks. We are experiencing life. We make mistakes. We fall. We adapt. We move on. We have fun. We march to our own drum. We are living. Don’t waste your life waiting for the perfect opportunity. Take the advice of an oilfield wife and start living your life right now!
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