Beyond Your Iceberg

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” ~Helen Keller

On April 10, 1912, the largest ship ever at that time, left Southampton, England on her maiden voyage to New York City. It was a magical and wonderous ship that was last seen by those on shore when it departed its final European stop of Cobh, Ireland. This sleek ship was to achieve a record setting six-day trip across the Atlantic Ocean.

On the night of April 14, 1912 at 11:40pm, the ship struck a massive iceberg. In only three hours the entire ship had sunk. What was thought to be the safest ship, the RMS Titanic became completely submerged about 2:45 AM on the morning of April 15, 1912.

Of the 2,228 people on board; 1,343 were passengers and 885 were crew members. There were only enough lifeboats on board the ship to hold 1,178 people. A number of the lifeboats were lowered at less than full capacity, resulting in a significantly smaller survivor number.

The exact number of survivors tends to vary, however the most common reported number is 705. Which means 1517 people lost their life on the Titanic. And with this tragedy, lives upon lives were changed forever. All because of a single iceberg floating on the currents of a vast ocean.

Each of us go through life, constantly on the lookout for any icebergs that may cross our paths. Watching for an obstacle or event that could impact our lives is a part of being prepared. Yet somehow, every once in a while, the tip of the iceberg slips by our cautious view.

And then it happens to us; job loss, relationship dissolves, an accident or sickness and worse yet death of a loved one. The level of unexpected circumstances vary like the size of an iceberg that lay beneath the water line. All events that may have been unavoidable even if you did see it coming. Your 'unsinkable' life has just been put into crisis.

So you can't avoid some of the unavoidable, but you can prepare yourself. In the case of the Titantic, there were only enough lifeboats to accomodate half of the ships people on board. But your ship is the safest and unsinkable. Being prepared for what life will send your way is the best thing you can do.

Job loss; keeping yourself connected to a network of people and up-to-date in skills will give you a head start on the next job. The competition for that new job will be intense, but you will have the tools to recover as opposed to sinking.

Relationship dissolves; keeping yourself connected to a network of people and maintaining a sense of self worth. The emotional pain will still occur, but you will have the tools to recover as opposed to sinking.

Accident or sickness; keeping yourself connected to a network of people and healthy ahead of time. The recovery will still take place but being healthy to start improves your overall ability to rebound.

Death of a loved one; the hardest one to give advice on because it varies widely on its effect as well as cutting so deep on a personal level. Yet keeping yourself connected to a network of people and having a strong faith will give you greater strength then you might imagine.

Each 'iceberg' we encounter is overcome by having this network of people. The ones who will drop what they are doing and be there for you. Each 'iceberg' event has in some way a corresponding spoke of life that will get us through the moment. With all of these spokes well-balanced, we will sail much easier past the iceberg and onto recovery.

The 'icebergs' are out there floating on the currents of life and when we encounter them we can be prepared to handle them. We can be one of the survivors that are 'unsinkable'. We will sail further in life.

Stay inspired my friends.