I Want To See You Be Brave…

Often times when we follow people’s Facebook or Instagram, or even blog pages, we see all the glory but none of the story. Personally, I’ve gotten exceptionally great at sharing all the wonderful happenings in my life and dealing with everything not so great in a secret manner but I’ve come to realize there’s a benefit to sharing the good. 

I woke up today thinking about what an impact social media and all aspects of our environment have on us. I’m personally someone who internalizes their environment almost immediately and it takes weeks to shake off (both in the good and the bad).

Last year around this time I was ending my tenure with a large investment bank. I had (barely) survived my 8 months there. It was the most gut wrenching and sickening experience of my life… and looking back I have to say that my efforts to focus on the positive were a good mission but a false hope. You see in the particular organization I worked for, very few people were friendly or social, they talked constantly of the “big sales” they closed, and bragged about screwing over people and “getting more money out of them.” Individuals would brag about hitting up their grandma for monies to hit their commission goals for the quarter. My boss at the time asked me weekly when I’m bringing my family money over for him to manage… 8 months of asking and 8 months of excuses later… I just left instead. It was disturbing and disgusting, and an impression of the large bank world that I’ll never forget – especially since my friends in other similar organizations said I had it good.

Throughout my brief period there I got physically sick… repeatedly:

• Migraines so bad I threw up at my desk
• Migraines that were so bad and lasted for so many days that I landed in Urgent Care hooked up to an IV
• Strep throat 3 times
• 2 of those strep instances turned into abscesses in my throats that needed draining
• Random and consistent sharp pains in my back that led me to see 7 different chiropractors in 8 months
• Countless colds

I can probably keep going but I’m not fond of reminiscing on those times and I think you get the point. I had never been that consistently sick in my entire life.

It still fascinates me that I bothered to stay as long as I did but I was determined to have a blemish free resume… what a joke when your health is at risk!

It’s when I left that I realized exactly how much my environment affects me. I’m willing to bet that I’m not alone. Even at certain dinner parties- if the company is negative or has a bad aura, I internalize it and feel it for weeks after.

Of course, there’s the opposite side to this. Every time I’m around people who give off great energy, and I go to dinner parties that are filled with empowerment and laughter and good energy, that also stays with me for weeks.

I really try to constantly be the person spreading good energy. I think people in our world today really need it (especially because so many are stuck in terrible work environments or terrible home environments or maybe even both… YIKES!), and even when I go through something, I try to give off positive energy because I believe it comes back to you through the forces in the Universe. I didn’t complain to anyone much during that 8 month period and shared the positives (being able to help someone’s grandma not lose their retirement funds… for instance) and now work for a wonderful Finance firm that cares about their clients beyond measure and does everything possible to take care of them.

When I left the great job I had before I went into the Large bank world, it was because I wanted to earn more money. It wasn’t a great driver and brought me to more money but not in the right way. When I quit the large bank… I was looking to work with wonderful people who cared about their clients and were extremely knowledgeable… and that’s exactly where I landed.

Maybe it’s woo-woo sounding, but I think if you show the Universe how brave you are, it’ll guide you to exactly where you’re meant to be.