I was inspired to write this after reading a post from someone who's been going through a difficult period. He wondered what he'd done to deserve such misfortune.
I have felt like this many times in my life, and looking back, I would say that these difficult times have made me change and grow as a person. I see life as a learning process, and you either learn the lessons or repeat the mistakes! I think that's what karma is all about.
For me, "go with the flow" is more important than "you reap what you sow".
[Source](https://pixabay.com/en/underwater-fish-waters-ocean-coral-3226899/)
"You reap what you sow" is a teaching that comes up several times in the Bible. And it's certainly true in some ways – after all, if you don't do the work, you probably won't pass the exam.
But if you _do_ put in the work, you won't necessarily pass the exam either! I'm someone who has always been a hard worker, but one lesson life has taught me is that it's not just working harder that counts – it's working smarter.
## Work smarter, not harder ##
Steemit is a great example. If you churn out post after post on your favourite topic, but it's a topic that no one else is interested in, you'll have few readers, few followers and few upvotes. But if you engage and interact with others, learn what interests them and learn about all the different platforms that Steemit has to offer, you'll start to see more success.
Imagine a new Steemian who writes a few posts, makes a few cents, gets frustrated and depressed, has a massive strop about the poor quality high-earning posts and then gives up and goes off in a huff. If someone asks them what they think of Steemit, they'll probably say: "It's rubbish. I put in loads of effort and got nothing in return."
But if their dismay at their lack of upvotes leads them to ask other Steemians for help; to find out more about the various options on offer on Steemit; to try other approaches and topics; to do a bit of experimentation… they might actually find out that the rewards on Steemit are not just in cash!
<center>*Brainstorm your problems!*</center><br>
Few people are an overnight success at anything – and if they are, they've generally not got there simply by their own efforts. People who are successful, whether in business, family life or sport, usually have a few failures behind them. It's not just about hard work, but about trial and error, and smart thinking.
## Business and career failure ##
When my business failed a few years ago, I didn't really feel upset – partly because I was exhausted! But also because I realised that the experience had taught me so much – especially about personal responsibility and managing my finances.
My career failure a few years previously was an even bigger learning curve. It wasn't just that my boss had turned nasty and tried to boot me out by bullying me. The union, which I had been a member of for more than 20 years, failed to give me any really useful support. That shattered the illusion that I had any job security.
In the end a friendly lawyer helped me to exit that situation with redundancy pay and a clean record, but the experience put me off working in a situation like that ever again.
Looking back, this might have been the kick up the backside I needed to become more independent in my career, even though it's been a long, hard struggle. I had been freelance a couple of times before in my career, and I'd really enjoyed it - but I'd always rushed back to what I thought was the "security" of a full-time job, as soon as one became available.
I used my redundancy pay to launch a juice and smoothie café, which I ran for almost five years, and really enjoyed it. I was surprised at how much fun it was meeting people from all walks of life, instead of the narrow ambitious graduate types I'd met in my magazine career.
My business launched during the "great recession", and boy, was that a learning curve! I learned that when most people were reluctant to part with their hard-earned cash, I had to be much smarter about developing products that would appeal to the few people who still had cash to spend. Juice cleanses were a great niche for me for a while, and I used to send them out by courier to various parts of the UK.
Ironically it was when juicing suddenly became more popular that the niche market for juice cleanses by mail started to dry up - because juice bars were opening up all over the place, so no one needed them to be delivered any more. I still had a few local customers, but the labour costs were taking their toll.
My business was a very labour-intensive one, and as the minimum wage rose, I just couldn't afford to pay for more staff, with the result that I was taking on more and more of the work myself. This took a toll on my health.
Also, the shop I leased was tiny, and the overheads ate into any profits. I realised that running costs would average out much cheaper if I had a bigger shop. But I couldn't afford the rent.
A friend had lent me a Napoleon Hill CD, and one sentence stuck in my mind and kept repeating in times of crisis:
>"Every problem contains the seeds of its own solution."
Eventually I hit on the solution: I had a private pension plan, and I wondered if there was a way for me to re-invest it in a bigger shop for my business.
After a lot of research, going on over many months, I found out that this was indeed possible. It wasn't easy, and it didn't save my business, but the upshot is that I now own a shop which I rent out – and I have a much bigger and healthier pension pot. I'm not drawing on it yet, but it's put me on a much more secure long-term financial footing.
## When you have a problem, find out what that problem is trying to teach you ##
I've been on a financial roller-coaster over the past few years, often completely running out of money and having to borrow from relatives. I've hardly bought any new clothes, and shoes only when I needed them (though I had so many clothes left over from my career lifestyle that I didn't really need to buy any new ones!).
[Source](https://pixabay.com/en/time-money-horizontal-speculate-1019889/)
I've developed new hobbies – hillwalking, climbing and indoor bouldering has replaced going out drinking with friends. I've kept some of my old friends and I've made LOADS of new ones!
I've learned about and invested in cryptocurrency. I've made money in crypto and I've lost loads by not wanting to risk buying Bitcoin when it was worth about $30, and by selling my Ether too early.
But I didn't shed one single tear over these losses, because they taught me valuable lessons about investing, hodling and spreading my investments. And because I know so many people who still have their lives tied up on the career ladder and who have made no plans for their future. I feel lucky compared to them. I try to give them good advice, like my dad gave me all those years ago, but they generally ignore it.
## New perspective ##
A friend said to me just a couple of days ago, "I wish I was like you. You're just so optimistic!" I laughed, because it was so unexpected, and there are certainly some things that bring me down. None of us can be happy all the time. But I do think my perspective on life has shifted a bit.
[Source](https://pixabay.com/en/dancing-in-the-rain-dance-music-2081158/)
When my friend made this comment, we were driving back from a fantastic day out in the hills. There were six of us – three in my car and three in the other car. It was a three-hour drive, and we were happy, tired and VERY hungry.
We'd all arranged to take a break at our favourite post-hills café, The Real Food Café in Tyndrum. We couldn't stop talking about their delicious food. I'd already decided I was going to have their amazing red velvet cake, though it was a difficult choice between that and the chocolate cake. My friend was going to tuck into fish and chips.
But 20 miles before Tyndrum, we hit a diversion, which sent us along a different road. We had no idea where we were going, or when the diversion would take us back to the main road. My friend was consulting her phone.
"Oh no!" she said. "They're sending us all the way to Inveraray!" There was only one turn-off before Inveraray, which was miles out of our way and totally bypassed Tyndrum. It looked like a dirt track, so I decided to avoid it.
My two friends in the car were pretty upset, as they were tired and wanted to get home. I was tired too, but this is where my "que sera, sera" attitude kicked in ("whatever will be, will be"). I knew there was no alternative and that I wasn't going to get my red velvet cake, so I decided to go with the flow and enjoy the scenery. My friend kept saying things like, "Aargh! It's a 55-mile diversion!"
<center></center>
<center>*Sometimes things just don't go to plan*</center><br>
Actually it wasn't, and it took much less time than expected to arrive at Inveraray, which is a lovely village. Most of the cafés there were shut, as it was after 7pm, but we stopped at a pub – and we found that our friends had stopped there too. It was a lovely pub, and we relaxed and had a laugh.
It occurred to me that the route had helped us avoid the northwest part of Loch Lomond, which is a notoriously narrow, windy road where you have to drive very slowly and carefully. When we finally got home, it was no later than if we'd taken the normal route!
In the end, I got some great learnings from that experience:
1. The road we were diverted onto was a very quiet, but very good road
– much better than the route I would usually take, and it turned out
that it's exactly the same distance! So I've found a great new route for driving north.
2. We discovered a nice pub in Inveraray which has a great menu. I will
_definitely_ be back for a meal sometime!
3. It turned out that the reason for the diversion was a wildfire, with
smoke billowing onto the road, so we avoided having a fume-filled car.
To my mind, karma is really about taking lessons from things, and "you reap what you sow" is just a ploy to make people work harder.
I definitely prefer to "go with the flow" – it's much more fun!
.gif)
hiveblocks