Work ethic and entitlement

  Both my mom and dad reminded me often as a teenager that if you want anything in life, you have to work for it.  It was evident that at the age of 18, I was on my own and had to rely on myself financially.  You will learn more about that later.  I started to work at age 15 and have had a job ever since.  The only time I didn't have a job is when we were stationed at a new duty station or we moved back to Delaware. I quickly became employed shortly after those relocations. 

Sean and I have worked hard together for the things we have in our lives.  Not one person handed us anything, EVER!  We are proud of the fact that we started out with so little and have worked hard as a team to accomplish many things.  Don't get me wrong, things happen in life and hard times fall on us all and we may need a helping hand but this is not what I am talking about.

I see it more in this generation and a bit older, a sense of entitlement.  A sense of I should be taken care of.  I have seen this saying on Facebook quite a bit lately, anything your parents do for you after the age of 18 is strictly out of love for you.

We need to reinforce to our children that hard work pays off. Take pride in your work and make smart financial decisions.  If you are miserable at your job and it is clearly not for you, don't quit until you have secured another job that will allow you to continue to support yourself and pay your bills. Your bills are no one's responsibility but your own.  Don't put that burden on others and get mad because they can't help or decided they won't help as it is your responsibility to work through the decisions you have made that have landed you in that particular situation. 

We had a situation with our son Jacob after his first year of college last year.  He failed a couple of classes in his last semester and had to retake them over the summer. He was embarrassed and humiliated that he failed and my first response to him was, what are you going to do about it?  This happened by his decisions and choices throughout the semester that caused those failing grades.  As much as I could see the hurt and disappointment on his face it was not up to me to fix it. Believe me, I wanted to!  We agreed that he would work to pay the over $1000 bill to make up those classes and he did.  He learned a valuable lesson as did I. Failure is inevitable, that is where we find out who we truly are. We try so hard as parents to help our children avoid the hurt of failure and defeat but that is life. We need to teach them how to have grit, to overcome, and to understand that failure is going to come but it is how you rise up from it that matters. You can do great things if you work hard and believe in yourself! You are responsible for YOU!  Jacob changed his major this year and made the Dean's list.  He adjusted and made the necessary changes to be successful.  He did it, not mom and dad, it was all him!     

I have also heard folks say they are waiting on God.  Sir and ma'am, please get up and do the right thing.  God provides us with opportunities and may put us on an unexpected path that affords us a great opportunity but I have never heard of God knocking on someone's door with a list of employment opportunities.  Be proud of yourself for making it out in this world, it is not easy but it is up to you to make things happen for yourself.  You've got this!  Don't be afraid to take the risks, make the moves and go for yours!! I truly want to see us all winning in this life. Be BOLD!