Posts Tagged ‘Business’

I was speaking with a friend the other day, a fellow entrepreneur who was having trouble with one of her employees.  Trouble enough that she was going to have to let him go.

She explained to me that she was hurting because she wanted to give this employee the opportunities to shine.  She knows they can shine, but they have been obstinate about their work, not putting their heart into things and causing some nearly catastrophic problems because of it.

She is a creative person, like myself.  Creative people want to believe the best in folks.  Those of us who can see the potential in people tend to give folks more leeway than we should because of that vision of what we know those people can be.  But sometimes those people aren’t in a place where they can fill those expectations, they aren’t able to see their own worth around their baggage or even worse, they actively work against the goals of the group.

You can’t help those people.  You certainly can’t change someone who doesn’t think they are doing anything wrong.  At some point, you have to let go.  But let me tell you folks.  It’s not easy.  It’s not fun, and for those of us who strive to live with compassion, it hurts.

For the health of her business, and inevitably her own sanity, she did what was necessary.

Nobody likes pain. But the pain itself isn’t bad. It reminds you that you still can feel compassion, that you still have a soul to share with folks. There is nothing wrong with that. Just acknowledge the pain for the lesson it brings and continue to do what you need to do. Knowing that you will continue to do it with compassion and soul.

Most of us try to avoid hurting others because we want to do what is right, and we want to see those we love and care for happy.  But sometimes that that is not an option, and that pain that we feel reminds us that we are alive, that we haven’t become some soulless automaton that walks this world just doing what it’s told no matter how it effects the people and things around us.  It proves to us that we as individuals are still striving to do the right thing, not only for ourselves, but for those we care about.

So when struggling to do what you know is necessary, bare with bleeding heart the storm of doubt, frustration and anxiety, and understand that the pain that comes from compassion is a sign of life, of the struggle to do the right thing.

We should all strive to do the right thing.  So let the pain come, thank it for it’s hard lessons, and then, when it’s time, let it go.