Amy Newmark - Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tough Times Wont Last But Tough People Will: 101 Stories about Overcoming Lifes Challenges

Chicken Soup for the Soul

Tough Times Wont Last But Tough People Will

101 Stories about Overcoming Lifes Challenges

Amy Newmark

Changing your life one story at a time

www.chickensoup.com

The New Normal

Andr Tutto Bene

May you always have courage to take a chance.

~Irish Saying

I m so good at worrying that Ive considered adding it to the skills section on my resume. Im the best there is at fretting over the little things, like how Ill manage a left turn at a light that has no green arrow, and the irrational, like wondering if a human has ever died from the shock of encountering a large insect in the kitchen.

I worry about big things, too. For the last decade, I was a graphic designer, a longtime employee at a company that struggled financially for years. Layoffs were frequent, and I lost count of how many talented employees were shown the door. It was a depressing place. There wasnt time for creative thinking, as we leftovers had to pick up the extra work. It was no longer the career I had loved.

I found a solution that allowed me to enjoy being creative again. I started making handmade jewelry as a hobby and selling it on Etsy. At first, I sold only one or two items a month. But I got a kick out of hearing the sales bell chime on my iPhone, and it felt good to put my energy into a project where the underlying motivation wasnt fear.

I developed new items to sell whenever I had time, and my little shop grew. After eight months, I was making enough cash on the side to pay for an occasional weekend trip or a fancy dinner. And as the stress level at my day job increased, my Etsy shop was a lovely contrast to all thata steady nightlight in a dark house.

When the COVID pandemic hit, I did what I do best and found something new to worry aboutthat my Etsy sales would stop. But, to my surprise, the opposite happenedmy weekly numbers actually doubled. In fact, my sales were a little too good. I was struggling to keep up. In a fleeting moment of excitement, I contemplated quitting my day job to run my Etsy shop full-time. But there were too many worries: No health insurance. No 401k match. These were the important things, I had been taught. Better to stay put.

And then I got a call from the companythey were reducing my hours by fifty percent in light of even more financial struggles from the pandemic. But they were maintaining my benefits. It should have been bad news, but the universe had thrown me a curveball when I was batting really well. I would have the time I needed to work on my shop.

I squeezed the life out of every extra minute I was given, creating new products to sell. One I particularly loved was a bracelet with letters that spelled Andr Tutto Bene. It was an Italian phrase I had seen in photographs from Venice, one of my favorite travel spots, where quarantined citizens had banners with the phrase hanging from their windows. The translation: Everything will be fine. It was a beautiful sentiment, not only for the world suffering in a pandemic, but for a perpetual worrywart like me.

The bracelets didnt sell, but I had a soft spot for them, so I kept paying to list them anyway. And other items sold well over the next several months. I was hitting my stride. My weekly sales doubled, again. I wondered how I would manage, again. And the universe threw me a curveball, again.

This one I wasnt sure I could hit.

Another call from the day job. This time, it was the HR director telling me that my position had been eliminated. It was my turn. Please dont take it personally that weve personally selected you to get rid of.

It was a miserable call to get, no matter how much I disliked my job. I felt guilty as I thought of my newlywed husband, an incredible man who had made approximately one billion sacrifices for me already. In return, I would have to burden him with the sole responsibility of paying our bills. As I waited for the HR director to get through the script, the sales bell chimed on my iPhone. Maybe I shouldnt have picked it up in the midst of what was happening, but I didand saw that a customer had bought two of my Andr Tutto Bene bracelets.

For most, this would be a sign that this order came in at the exact moment I was losing my job. But as a skilled worrier, I had no time for that. How much did health insurance cost? What if I never found another job? What if I never got a left-turn green arrow again?

The call ended. I sat at my desk for a while thinking. Fifteen minutes later, my sales bell chimed again.

It was the same customer. She bought three more bracelets. The universe: Okay, idiot, you didnt get it the first time. How about now?

I made the five bracelets the next day. I debated telling the customer about the unusual circumstances but didnt want to be a creepy over-sharer. I sent the order off and started wading through the things you do when you get laid off.

Worriers need constant reinforcement. People dont always know that, but the universe does. And it brought me the same customer when I needed her. As I negotiated my severance package, she ordered three more bracelets. As my husband and I figured out our health-insurance plan, three more. With every new tidal wave of worry, she threw me a raft to hang onto.

Once I got things sorted, her orders stopped. But others came, in numbers I wouldnt have dreamed possible. My customers are mostly women, and I wondered how many of them might be struggling like me and in need of a similar boost. How many were stuck in a miserable job, or stressed by the pandemic, or upset by the tense political landscape? There were a lot of reasons to worry, even if you werent normally a worrier.

I did my best to pay it forward. I included personalized touches with each order. I wrote handwritten messages and added small gifts. I told people to have a great day. I called them fabulous. They are.

The response was overwhelming. I started receiving sweet e-mails and even a few handwritten thank-you notes in return. When I opened your package, I had the biggest smile on my face It made my day after having a really bad mental-health day today Its so heartwarming and appreciated to have someone put in a little extra right now. It felt so good to be enveloped in positivity after all the years of professional gloom and doom.

Today, my shop has more than 10,000 sales and my weekly earnings exceed what I was making at my previous job. A worrier like me would never have thought that possible. But the best part is the joy I get from taking care of my customers, and how lucky Ive been to have them take care of me in return. Everything is fine, and so much more.

Jenine Zimmers