S2:E6 Finding Hope Through Life's Storms
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Jeremy: [00:00:00] Life's storms will shake your foundation, but they'll also clear the path for growth. Let's discover how your hardest challenges can become your greatest strengths. This is the most vulnerable episode I've ever recorded. Let's get into it.
What's good? What's good? It's the Jeremy Haselwood Show. What's good, what's good? Let's get ready to go. Welcome to the Jeremy Haselwood Show. Plug in. Turn it up. Let's go. Hey, hey. Welcome to the Jeremy Haselwood Show.
Welcome to this episode where we will be talking about finding hope through life's storms.
Before we get started, make sure you tap click or smash the follow or subscribe button so that you'll be notified when each new episode drops. This is season two of the Jeremy Hayes would show where you are learning all [00:01:00] about life transformation and personal development. Each season, my show covers a different topic.
My goal is to spark curiosity, build community, inspire action, and deepen our understanding for the world around us.
Today we'll talk about how life's storms shape us, teach us resilience, and ultimately lead to growth and purpose. I invite you to face your challenges head on, embrace the lessons within adversity and find strength in your own story. And speaking of stories, let me share a little bit.
About a story from my life that deals with life's challenges, life storms. I was in my late twenties, early thirties, when I finally got that job. Have you ever had that job? You're like, this is the job that I've worked part of my career, hoping that I would get, and I finally got it. It was a job where I had mapped out, I wrote down previously, like where my job would be, what the surroundings would look like, what my day to day career life would look like, and it checked every single box except the corner [00:02:00] office.
I had corner office written as my ideal job, but I had just started, so there was no corner office for me, and I didn't come in at that level worthy of a corner office. But I finally found that job and worked this job. It was at a marketing agency, loved the work that I did, had great relationships with my clients, great relationships with my coworkers.
I had so much meaning in the work that I did. This is actually where I started working with nonprofits and doing fundraising, putting together digital strategies and, email campaigns and social media campaigns, and really seeing the fruits of my labor and my marketing experience and seeing the numbers, how much money was raised and knowing how many meals Could be provided for that.
How many people could have a roof over their head? Like it was such an amazing feeling to be able to do that work until I lost that job in the marketing agency world and people who are in the marketing agency world know this, but if you're not in it, let me give you an insider's view. Marketing agencies will hire up [00:03:00] staff whenever they gain clients, because they need people that work or they need to have enough staff to cover the work that comes in.
And then when they lose clients, they end up laying off people because they don't need that many people working anymore to do the work. And this is really the nature of the beast with marketing agencies. They do great work. You have a lot of creative people that work there. You learn a lot about marketing.
And it just so happened that I was a part of one of these hires being hired whenever they gained a client. And then when they lost a client, I was let go. And it was really unsuspecting to me because the job that I had was one that met with clients and helped to secure business. So I was actually bringing revenue into the company.
So I was seeing other people losing their job around me that were more in operations and could be perceived as a cost. But I thought my job was because I'm actually bringing in money for the agency. So one day I go in and I got a, an email to say, come to my office. And I met with my boss, long story short.
It was a meeting with him and [00:04:00] HR and ended up losing that job. And I was just completely surprised. They basically said that I had 30 minutes to get everything from my desk. And they had a box there waiting for me by the time I got back to my desk. And it's just like this walk of shame and sadness.
It's like people see you leave an office, they see the box at your desk, they know that they've lost a coworker, a teammate, and I've seen that on my side, I've lost coworkers and I've seen this happen and it's always really sad because I've been fortunate enough to work with people who've become real friends in my life.
I'm always sad to see that happen. And now I was on the receiving end of this and there were people in tears, I was keeping myself together with people sad to see me go. And I was certainly sad to walk away from what I thought was my dream job. And I was so confused. I was very rattled by it.
I just remember walking outside with this little box going to my car and putting the box in my back seat and just sitting in the driver's seat of my car for a minute [00:05:00] and. Not really knowing what to do. Like I was looking at my hands and my hands were shaking. Like my breathing was it was a little, I guess maybe if you have bouts of anxiety, which I typically don't but I've seen people have scenarios in which their breathing gets a little heightened, my breathing was abnormal.
My hands were shaking. My body was just tingling and I was having a physical reaction to what just happened. And I was so distraught and called my girlfriend at the time, who's now my wife and told her what happened. I don't know what I'm going to do from here. I'm holding back tears. It was really a sad situation because I thought that I had arrived. I was like, this is it my life. I know what it's going to be from here on out. And it was suddenly taken away from me. they gave me like two weeks of severance. So after two weeks, I'm not going to be able to find a job that quickly, especially the kind of jobs I was looking for. I could probably find maybe a retail job or work at a restaurant or something like that, [00:06:00] but for the kind of job for the career that I wanted.
It takes longer than two weeks to find those jobs. So here I was just starting from scratch slate was clean, financial worry, financial stress concern about the future of my life. I mean, not my, necessarily my wellbeing and I wasn't worried about losing my life or anything like that, but it was just, what does life look like from here?
Will I lose my house? You know, I lose my car. Like how will I pay my bills? What does any of this look like? But this is just one storm in my life. I've had several others in my life. This is just one that sticks out a lot. I've been debilitated in bed before in grief, crying for days at the loss of a loved one.
And I've had multiple job losses that led to uncertainty and financial hardship and just dealing with a cycle of self doubt that comes with that. But life's hardest storms often feel like they're here to break us. But what if they're here to build us instead?
What I'd like to introduce is the idea of storms being a catalyst for growth. Now, on the other end of this job loss that I experienced, [00:07:00] where I really felt like this was what I was supposed to be doing in life, the very next day, I went out and set up my own business, Ample Marketing, which I still have today.
This is 11 years later. Thankfully, I've been successful with my business. Now it took me a few years to get it off of the ground. And while I was getting my company off of the ground, I was working another job. And I'll dig more into that story on another episode. But the bottom line is. I'm happier right now in my life than I've ever been.
And I can look back at that storm and recognize that yes, the work was great. The hours were crazy though. If you've ever worked at a marketing agency, like you're working 60 plus hours a week. And for me, it was fun work. I don't know how sustainable it was though. I could do it then. I don't know if I could do it at the age I am now, or Fast forward 10 years.
So being able to at least get that experience find this love for working with nonprofits and now having the opportunity to create my own and have a successful business, I wouldn't be where I am now without that storm occurring. [00:08:00] So that was a pivotal moment in my life that actually created growth for me.
Now, when you look at your own life, defining what the storms have been in your life. Moments of intense difficulty, uncertainty or transition that force you to confront yourself. This may look like job loss and certainly the loss of a loved one or maybe bad news from the doctor. I think everybody that I know has gone through some kind of storm in life.
It's just a part of the human experience. And I think that when you realize that It is part of the human experience and more storms will come. After I record this episode today, there will be storms in my life that I face. I don't know what those will be, but they will happen. But also looking back and knowing that I've made it through some storms and I'm still here.
I have hope for making it through the storm and also the wisdom of looking back and knowing that through storms, we can also learn and we can grow through those.
Now, as I look through the storms in my life, I can highlight hope through the hardship of key [00:09:00] events, and I've gained key lessons through my life, such as developing empathy through financial hardship. Understanding when people struggle, how they struggle in the marketing world.
Like I've met so many people over the years that have lost their job. It's I know how that feels. I can relate to that. Even if you're not in marketing, just people in general, when you lose a job, I don't take that lightly. I know that pain. I know that uncertainty. I know how scared you can be. I can understand that and I can be a voice of hope for somebody that's going through that through my own hardships.
I've gained clarity on what truly matters in my life because at the end of the day, it's even though this hardship occurred, I have gratitude because I'm still here. I still have my family. I still have my health. I still have. Everything that I need on this earth, I don't need the excess. So it really brings a new perspective to it.
It strengthened my mental and emotional resilience, being able to be battle tested, if you will. And through this whole journey, like I've been able to find myself having the time and space to do the work. if you're [00:10:00] going through a hardship right now, just hang in there. it can be a financial setback, but it can be a springboard towards your purpose.
It was certainly a springboard towards my purpose.
So how do you find hope through life storms? I want to go through seven different steps on overcoming and working through life storms. The first step is grieving it. Sometimes we falsely tell ourselves, I'm okay, when we're really not. And if you find yourself stuffing those feelings and saying, I'm okay, but you're really not, let's let that go.
Just be okay with not being okay. you can tell yourself, instead of saying, I'm okay, just say, I'm not okay, but I will be. And breathe. And grieve that loss, grieve that feeling. I mean, literally grieve. If you need to curl up in a fetal position and just cry your eyes out, do that, take time to grieve it and don't act like it's not a thing when it is a thing. The second step is to commit to closure. You have to move beyond that stage of grieving and committing to getting over that grief and getting over does not [00:11:00] mean.
Rejecting it or acting as though it didn't happen. It doesn't mean stuffing your feelings It means controlling the response to the storm and refocusing on your higher goals and your purpose that is committing to closure It can be as simple as telling yourself i'm going to grieve the storm or grieve the loss this week and then monday I'm going to refocus and I can't tell you what that timeline is for you.
It can certainly depend on what the magnitude of that loss or that storm is. Maybe a week is not enough time. Maybe it's a month or two months, but commit to closure. on being able to grieve this. The third piece is gaining clarity. Like after you have this closure and you commit to the closure, once you've moved beyond the closure and beyond that initial phase of grief, this is when you start to gain clarity.
And what you realize is that the storm didn't take you away from your path. It was a part of your path the whole time. This was not a derailment of where you were going in life. This was actually a part of you. Of your life the [00:12:00] whole time, and when you have that clarity, it resets your expectations, and it enables you to have acceptance for this storm or this loss that occurred, and it can sharpen your focus because now again, you are battle tested.
Once you gain this clarity, you move to step four, which is very closely related, and that is learn from it. Once you gain the clarity, you take a step back. And you see what learnings you can take away from this storm or from this loss. And here are a few things that you learn. Most likely, you learn that you can experience life storms and still be alive, which means your story is not over.
You are still here. Your life still matters. You also learn that you are strong enough to endure a catastrophic event. from someone or something. It doesn't mean it feels good. It doesn't mean that it hurts or take something from you, but you're still here. So you have endured this. You have gained strength through this and wisdom, knowing that you can endure something very difficult.
You also learned that grief and sadness are a part of life, but there's [00:13:00] also beauty and love that you get. I don't know about you, but whenever I've gone through these moments of loss or these tremendous storms of my life, There's always been at least one person and fortunately for me in several cases, there have been several people who have been supportive of me, whether it's just a phone call, a text, a nice message.
I've had other people that have been there for me. And I recognize that I have a lot of people that love me in this world and experiencing that love. People don't often get a chance to number one, receive that love because we're so busy in our lives, just living it, but people do care about people. And so when you receive that love, it reminds you that love is alive and well.
In the world today. And another thing that you learn is that your work and purpose is not done yet. If it was, you wouldn't have gotten up this morning, but you did get up today. So that means you have a chance at life. Your work is not done. Your purpose is still being fulfilled. Your story is still being written. So once you take time to [00:14:00] learn from.
This storm and learn about yourself. You must take time to honor it And I know that sounds crazy honoring loss in your life honoring a storm in your life But this is a catalyst for personal growth and helping others I've lost people very near and dear to me, I've grieved it, I've learned about it, I've learned about myself.
But then you honor it. If there's a person that meant a lot to you, yes, you grieved the loss of them no longer being here, but just honoring the time that you had with that person, the job that you had, the relationships you built, the wisdom that it taught you, even through job losses. I have, man, I honor these job losses.
I honor my little dog that passed away, little Callie I honor that because she was such a. little beacon of light for me. So just finding the good and finding the honor of the situations that you've been through. If you've been through some horrendous things in your life, it may be hard to honor that.
In a strange way, I would say, honor your strength through it all that you're still here, that you've overcome that and honor yourself, honor your fortitude and your [00:15:00] perseverance. number six is to recognize your value. Your ability to overcome life storms is a strength, not a liability.
So again, if you have experienced abuse, neglect, loss, these things we can walk around feeling like we've got this liability or we're devalued as a result of this, but no, this is actually a strength in your life. This is something that a lot of people have gone through, but maybe don't want to talk about.
But when you have the. Confidence and the strength to talk about it. It can inspire other people who are going through those similar storms in their lives or who have gone through storms in their lives, but haven't had the courage to have those discussions. And they need somebody like you to have that discussion with.
So you are a valuable person. Your life is valuable. Your influence is valuable. Your experience is valuable. Recognize your value and land on that. Don't land on hiding from what has happened to you. Recognize who you are. Recognize your value. Be the badass in this world that you're supposed to be. [00:16:00]
And number seven, move forward with tenacity. the grief and loss and storms that you've experienced will always be a part of you. But it's behind you. And yes, there will be more storms ahead.
But these storms and these things that you've experienced, these are behind you in life.
This grief and this storm and this experience has given you a strength and a weapon to battle for your life's purpose. More storms will come, but it won't set you back like it did before. You're an overcomer. You're honoring your past. You've been there. You've done that. New storms may slow you down, but they won't hold you down. Keep moving forward with tenacity.
And with that, let's talk about lessons from the storm. There are three core lessons about adversity. Number one is adversity reveals strength. Sometimes we underestimate our ability to endure, but the storms will bring out how that adversity reveals strength. The second lesson about adversity is growth requires discomfort.
Storms can shake us out of complacency and push us towards growth. And [00:17:00] there've been many conversations I've had with people over the years, especially with job loss. Where this storm of a job loss has shaken them to their core, but at the same time it's caused people to rethink their lives, reevaluate their skills, their talents, their purpose.
Many have started their own companies and others have said, you know what? I didn't really like that job anyways. I was too comfortable in that job and I needed something to happen. So this growth does require some discomfort. And then the third core lesson of adversity is that clarity emerges from chaos.
Tough times strip away any distractions and force us to focus on what's important. So going through this chaos, you really have to lock in and focus on where you're going, who you are, what's important, and being able to move forward.
The storm may shake your foundation, but it also clears away the clutter, allowing you to rebuild even stronger. so I'll leave you with this. Life's storms don't define us, they shape us. The hardest thing you face [00:18:00] today could be the reason you find your strength tomorrow.
Let's get into our reflective questions at the end of every episode, similar to my book, finding your edge, how to unlock your talent and purpose. I have reflective questions to help you learn and grow. This week we have five questions. We usually have three questions, but this one's a little bit deeper and I want you to do a little bit more work.
Pulling out life storms and the insights about yourself. So the first question is what is one storm that you have faced in life and what did it teach you? The second question, how did that experience reveal your strength or resilience? The third question, What's one thing you can do today to weather the storm you're currently facing?
Number four, who in your life can you turn to for support during tough times? And number five, how can you reframe a current challenge as an opportunity for growth? And that, my friends, is how you find hope [00:19:00] through life storms. Hope you enjoyed today's show. I want to thank you for tuning in to the Jeremy Hazelwood show.
If you did enjoy today's show, make sure that you follow or subscribe. So you're always up to date when every episode drops and tell a friend about it. If you found this helpful to you, share it with somebody and write a review because that helps other people discover the show and get the insights and help that they need to grow as well.
So until next time, keep following your dreams to find your purpose.
