IF...by Rudyard Kipliing.

IF.....

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Sometimes I read this poem for comfort. 

Sometimes for courage.

Sometimes just because it is so wise.

It is easy to slide into negativity when things don't go the way we hope. Or when you feel under pressure from events spiraling out of your control, or you just need to make a decision. The 'when one door closes another one opens' attitude is difficult to maintain at those moments and I had one of those yesterday. I had applied for yet another job just before Christmas and had all but given up hope of hearing anything back...but yesterday the envelope with 'no thank you' did drop through the letterbox, as expected. I know there are many, many candidates for every single job there is, and I know it is not personal - they don't even know me - but it feels personal. A personal slight on one's experience, knowledge, person. A rejection. Another one.

So I got this poem out, dusted it off, and read it this morning. 

Just to remind myself that Courage starts with a C. 

That I just have to ' go to the mattresses'!!!!

And because how ever disappointed I may be, there will be someone even more disappointed, and I wish to have empathy with that, and hope that the next time they go after a job, they will get it. And it will be an even better one that this!!! Success to Everyone who needs to find work today!!

Sue xx