Yesterday, I was listening to a local radio station from Los Angeles as I drove home from having a nice lunch with my daughter. It was focused on the impact that the recession has taken on our youth. Several high school seniors were sharing the pain that they had taken on since their moms and dads had lost jobs, mortgage payments were not being made, which then resulted in not being able to do what they had previously enjoyed. It was stated at the end of the program by a well-known psychologist, that the impact might never leave these young people. As I listened to the recordings of our youth, I was intent to see what they were feeling and thinking. Honestly I had more questions than answers. Everyone seemed to share their pain and worry of only missing things.
Why do our young men and women have so much pressure to have more things, or save the things they already have? Who influenced our youth to be so worried or concerned about things? Did they get this from their schoolteachers? Did they get it from their friends and peers? Where did their friends and peers get it? The psychologist’s concern was for their future. Driving along the freeway, I was only left to think of what lesson had to be learned.
It changed my mood in just a few minutes, and I was so happy to have heard the program. I wanted to share my thoughts about recession-proofed people, and the most important factors to surviving in this recession while not being scared for the years to come.
Alyssa hasn’t received the word. She is behind the times. The poor girl wouldn’t know the difference between Rush Limbaugh and James Carville. She never watches CNN and the Wall Street Journal is not on her morning read while she sips her coffee. You see Alyssa has been through more surgeries and hospital visits than most people will do in a lifetime. She has been poked by more needles and smiled at by more surgeons that one deserves. I am sure the insurance company doesn’t like Alyssa, and the drug companies adore her for more reasons than one. What makes her so special? How is she any different than the seniors interviewed for the previously mention radio show? She is two-years-old. She is my granddaughter. She is no more special than any of my other grandchildren. She is who she is, and has been given a different path than my other grandchildren, but still smiles and says, “I love you papa.” As of this moment, she has not been affected by the recession. She has not chosen a political view or the condemnation of the other side that just can’t seem to get it right. She prefers pancakes for breakfast, and not the stock market update. She seems to smile with a hug, and giggles with a kiss on her cheek. I think she has it right. She is recession proof.
Jacob is recession proof! His was kicked out of more schools by the time he was 6 than most of the radio show interviewed seniors ever entered. School administrators knew him on a first name basis, but that didn’t mean that he was headed for a college scholarship; it simply meant that he had disturbed the system once again. Jacob was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome, and he isn’t like the other kids. Now he has found a fantastic school that supports his different ways of learning. In his latest national test scores for third graders, he tested as an eighth grader. Does that make him odd or weird? What makes him succeed? Jacob, like Alyssa, has been given a different path than many others but has chosen to succeed in a different way. He reads a book a week, and is tested after each book. Maybe that seems odd to you, but for me as a Papa it thrills my being and I am proud to call him my grandson. He just turned nine years old last week. He is recession proof!
How do you recession proof you? I would suggest to stop focusing on the things, and pay more attention to what you have. Things that can’t be bought with money, or damaged during a recession would increase your ability to see down the road to a brighter tomorrow. As I’m writing this, I keep hearing the recession proof words, “ I love you Papa” and wonder how these two special people keep from becoming a participant to the recession, or the recessions to come, when they reach adulthood.
Think about these things:
1. Is your focus on what you have or what you don’t have?
2. Are your friends close to foreclosure or forgiveness?
3. Does your business need an Alyssa makeover?
4. Do you need Jacob’s reading habits?
I am sensitive to the recession and what people are going through. My heart goes out to the people that are losing their things. But remember there are certain things that are recession proof.
Write down the 5 things that are recession proof in your life. Once you write them down ask yourself this question, “ Are they 5 things or beings?” You see they cannot be owned, but live and thrive on their own. They will never be repossessed or foreclosed upon. You can’t control them, because they are not yours to own. They are beautiful beings that have been given a different path to journey and could be our greatest teachers during any economic time, not just in a recession.