It’s OK to be a loser
By Julia Fernandes
July 22, 2011
I finished my college graduation in the year 1996. We are now in 2011. In the 15 years of my life after graduation, my cumulative work experience till now has been a little more than six years, which means for a total of almost nine years I had been without a job! That makes me highly qualified to write this piece.
I have come to realize that the world we live in is highly obsessed with success. A lot of premium is placed on your achievements; the pressure to be a winner starts from school, college, work, extending upto your personal life. People tend to measure you by what you have achieved in all the areas of your life.
It is nice to be successful but failure isn’t bad either. The umpteen long breaks that I have taken in my career helped me to discover God in ways I would have never been able to find Him had I been working continuously. I remember spending lonely long afternoons on the terrace of my building -- not alone but with God by my side. In those quietest moments I would pray, talk to God, think, eat, listen to music, look at the sky, watch the birds -- and then my refreshed soul would come back home. I would feel energized to go about my daily chores, enthusiastic to live for another day not knowing where I am headed for in my life.
The world teaches us that we need to have direction in our life and we ought to move in that direction. But God taught me that you can still live life to the fullest even if you do not have a direction in your life. You can still enjoy the highest moments of bliss even if you have lost your way in your life for nothing lasts forever, neither success nor failure.
I did not scramble for help; I did not press the panic button. For I knew I was not alone in this. God was with me too. And He did do wonders. Each time I got a job after long breaks, God gave me the best job -- in terms of the work, environment, salary, everything. It is like that. In just one magnificent sweep of His blessings, God makes you forget all the hardships that you had to endure.
I really don’t know how this term loser became a part of our dictionary. I find it cruel. God is never in a hurry to write us off as much as we humans are to write each other off. I often hear people calling one another loser with a big L. It’s sad because God never considers anybody as loser. There is no such word as loser in God’s dictionary for He can turnaround just about anything.
It’s OK if you do not have a job. Stay close to God and trust that He will not put you in a company where He has not planned a future for you. It’s OK if you have failed in your exams. It just means that you either try harder next time or maybe God has blessed you with other talents, which you need to discover.
It’s OK if your bank balance is dwindling; it is OK even if it becomes zero. Yes, I have been through that phase and the most beautiful part is despite not having sufficient money in my bank, my purse was always full! When you see a zero in your bank statement, just remember that it does not take long for God to add 1, 2, 3, 4, etc before that zero. And that’s what He did.
Every failure, every career break, every financial problem did not break me, did not make me a bitter person. The greatest success lies in recognizing and cherishing the love of God; the greatest achievement is having God by your side. And the best part is while I was busy enriching my heart, mind and soul with God’s love, God got busy enriching the other worldly areas of my life and that includes my health, my work and even my bank account!
Today, no amount of success can bloat my head and no amount of failures can sink my heart. For I have learnt that when you enjoy and share the deepest love with God, you have achieved everything in life. As long as you have God with you, it’s OK to be a loser for in the eyes of God you are a winner all the way!