Today’s post isn’t going to be about brand management, marketing, advertising, PR, or best practices for social media programs. In fact, this post isn’t going to be about any of the things I usually talk about on this blog. I won’t give you any advice, share any professional insights or teach you how to do anything that will enhance your campaigns or make your companies kick ass. Today, I just want to lend a helping hand to a few people in my life who have fallen on hard, if not slightly dark and scary times. Some of these friends are people I have known for a long time. Others are people I have come to know through Twitter, Facebook, or this blog. More still may be people I haven’t met yet, but will thanks to this post.
All of these folks have something in common: They have had a shitty week. One found out she has a rare health condition that could change her whole life. Another buried her sister. A third lost a job he absolutely lived for. A fourth is heartbroken. A fifth lost hope, which is just about one of the worst things that can happen to a human soul.
I could sit here and wax philosophical about ups and downs, cycles being mere moments in time, about the need for patience and courage and even perseverance, about the fact that as humans, we fall on our faces sometimes, we screw up, bad things just happen out of the blue and for no apparent reason, but you know how long-winded I can get. So instead, here is a collection of insights from people far smarter and wiser than me, that will hopefully bring some solace, if not comfort, to anyone having a really horrible week:
What we call the beginning is often the end.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from.
– T. S. Eliot
Discontent is the first necessity of progress.
– Thomas Edison
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
– Japanese Proverb
If we screw it up, start over. Try something else.
– Lee Iacocca
Failure does not exist. Failure is simply someone else’s opinion of how a certain act should have been completed. Once you believe that no act must be performed in any specific other-directed way, then failing becomes impossible.
– Wayne Dyer
Celebrate endings – for they precede new beginnings.
– Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
– Nelson Mandela
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.
– Helen Keller
If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.
– Dolly Parton
To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform.
– Theodore H. White
This thing we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down.
– Mary Pickford
Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.
– Raymond Lindquist
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
– Winston Churchill
The starting point of all achievement is desire.
– Napoleon Hill
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
– Anne Frank
Let me end this post with a quick anecdote. Yesterday, an old friend posted this to his Facebook page from his cell phone:
if I had not pulled the woman back onto the sidewalk just now, she would no doubt be dead.
holy shit. really.
Which, of course was followed by this:
what if I had gone to lunch at a normal time instead of 2pm? what if I had been texting? what if I had decided to go to subway instead of lamazou for lunch?
Life is a pretty wild little adventure. You get beaten to a pulp sometimes. Other times, you’re ready to take on the world. Truth is, very little of it is really ever under your control. You do the best you can. Sometimes things work out, sometimes things don’t. But in spite of all the success and failure, in spite of the great moments and the horrible ones, everyone gets to save the world in some way at pretty regular intervals. We impact each other’s lives every single day. The butterfly effect is still real and relevant, perhaps more so today with human beings becoming ever more connected through technology and social platforms. We all share each other’s wins and losses. We all participate in each other’s lives. We can help each other better, faster, longer, and across vast distances.
If today sucks, if it is the hardest day you’ve ever had to endure in your entire life, hang in there. Someone’s life might depend on it tomorrow or next week. Your next tweet or blog post could change someone’s life. Your next idea could revolutionize an industry. Your next walk to Lamazou (or Subway) for lunch could save someone’s life.
Hang in there. It’s important that you do.
Really awesome post. Love it.
Thanks, Max.
A great post and one that I know a dear friend will appreciate. Thanks for being human! Very timely.
Nice 😉
That was beautiful and inspirational. Thank you. 🙂
Thanks, Sarah.
Very awesome, thanks!
Thank you. 🙂
Olivier,
This is why I love you. You have passion and care. You are authentically you. And you know a bit about this social media marketing thing too 😉 Some fantastic quotes that really touch our soul. I don’t know the friends you speak about but I genuinely hope things get better for them quickly. Sending lots of hope and best wishes their way.
Have a wonderful day.
Thanks, Kenny. Much appreciated. This stuff is far more important than business stuff, really. I’m not a social worker or a shrink, but some days, writing about digital brand management and organizational change just doesn’t jive with what is on my mind. And the day I stop caring about people is the day I need to cash in my chips and go live in a shack somewhere in outer Mongolia. 😉
Cheers, man.
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
– Japanese Proverb (My favorite quote)
What an incredible post. Thanks for sharing. It’s easy to get down in the dumps and forget everything has a purpose.
Yep. It’s far too easy to get caught up in the awfulness of a moment. Thanks for the comment. 🙂
Just love this, Olivier. Thank you.
🙂 My pleasure.
Thank you for posting this. Through the massive transitions we all go through, we forget that we still have the power to impact people’s lives, even in our down times. I really love the quotes you put in there. As I’m going through my own transition, it’s great to read all of those. Very inspiring post.
Good to hear, Timothy. 🙂
Thanks for the encouragement. Even if people aren’t having shitty weeks, they can put this post in the hope bank for a later circumstance. “We all share each other’s wins and losses.” Love that. @timotis
That’s what I am hoping. 🙂
Beautiful words (even those of others). Thanks for sharing these thoughts.
🙂
Great article Olivier! Sending hugs and prayers to you and your friends… All the best!
Olivier…it has been a while since we chatted…but enjoyed this reading. Not because of the sad times people are facing, but because we can all relate. We have all found ourselves in tough times, at low points when tomorrow seems such a distance. Many of us rely on our faith, family, friends, colleagues, or a combination of all.
Hope is a beautiful thing…hope in a tomorrow that will bring a brighter today. As a person that grew up getting told what I cannot do…I have tried to live life proving them wrong, each and everyday.
We are human beings…we are not perfect and sometimes it is necessary for the bad times to come along, just as much as the good times. It allows us to smell the breath of life and to enjoy what we have; and to look back at those dark moments and realize what blessings bring grace to our lives daily.
To your friends…it is my sincere hope for a brighter tomorrow.
~BR
Yep. Thanks for that. The crappy part is that for a lot of people, when the bad times hit, their brain chemistry changes to the point that hope and the concept of “tomorrow” no longer enter the equation. That’s dangerous, sometimes. In those moments, they can mistake a moment in time for long term pain. That isn’t healthy. I hope this will maybe help 1 or 2 people today. Maybe even tomorrow. 😉
Thanks, Olivier, for taking the time to offer something uplifting to those you know who are struggling, and others you may not know. These are difficult times for a lot of people. If we aren’t struggling ourselves, I think everyone knows someone who is. Thanks for using some “blog time” to offer a little hope.
Thanks, Neicole. I’ve been meaning to post something like this for a while. I should have done it sooner. 🙂
I needed to read this today. Thank you.
Good timing then. 🙂
Olivier,
I think that by sharing these quotes and letting other know they are not alone in the daily obstacles life brings us you did something great!
On my side I send many positive vibrations to the person with the illness all other situations are easily solved compared to not having help.
Thanks once again!
🙂 You’re a good man, Raul.
Olivier,
It has been a very long time since I have visited your site — for which I apologize — both to you and to myself. Your wisdom, professionalism and most importantly, your humanity are rare and admirable.
Life is a journey, often a precarious one, and we all stumble and sometimes fall. What sets you apart is the vision to see beyond the next turn in the road, and the certainty that hope is always waiting for those who never give up.
Life is also a story and we all have one.
Here is a story I know well and that I would like to share for the first time — in the fervent hope that it will help your friends:
There once was a very successful executive, at the top of his form on one the loftiest perches in American business. But there was one road, one less-traveled, that he longed to follow.
So at 40, he left that comfortable perch and flew off on his own to start an Internet business. At the time, the Web was an infant and all of his contemporaries thought him delusional — but he was undaunted and determined.
As often happens to those who believe that failure is not an option, he succeeded mightily. He shared his time and resources with charity, helped those in need and encouraged others to follow their dream as he had done.
Years later, as he sat on the aft deck of his yacht sipping a fine glass of wine, he realized that while his business life was stellar his personal life was not. In his climb to the top of his career he had lost his wife and family and was now alone. The stars above his head were breathtaking, but he had no one to share them with. You can appreciate Heaven’s beauty, but if you can’t share it what’s the point?
Never particularly wise in personal matters, he met and soon married a woman he hardly knew. Three months later, as he was preparing Christmas dinner, his new life imploded. His new wife, as it turned out, was a drug addict.
Over the next three years, he followed her through one nightmare after another, losing his business along the way. It was as if the Heaven he once admired had turned black and forbidding. The stars had been replaced by the darkest of thunderclouds.
But he never gave up. And years passed.
Just as he thought the storm was finally running it’s course, he had a stroke and nearly died. While he was recuperating, his wife left her third rehab and promptly filed for divorce. Inexplicably, the court gave her everything, He was left penniless and homeless.
With his few remaining belongings and his faithful Golden Retriever, still recuperating but again undaunted, he struck out across the country and spent the next cold winter in a friend’s trailer, sometimes without food and often without heat.
With the amazing help of a friendly doctor, the local food bank, his wonderful dog and his faith in God, he survived. One evening all he had left to eat was an unopened can of sardines, but instead of eating it he tucked it away as a keepsake of his struggle.
Months passed, and he was finally well. Once again he and his dog struck off across the country to Arizona, where he once again started his business on a shoestring.
Today, his business is once again successful, his dog remains faithfully by his side, he has met a woman who loves him unconditionally and he is happier than ever before in his life – and, of course, he still has that unopened can of sardines.
The moral of this story is that no matter what thunderclouds obscure your view: Never give up, never lose your faith, and never turn away from the bright future that is always waiting just beyond your grasp.
And never lose sight of the stars – God put them there to guide you.
Thanks for that, Michael. 🙂
Both of my blogposts for the previous two weeks are about this topic. I won’t post them here, but if you google “successful blog and Molly Cantrell-Kraig,” you’ll find them. Topsy turvy, WTF-kian weeks. It’s literally a series of lows and highs that I haven’t experienced for a long time.
I just tweeted this about an hour ago, “Something stupendous is on the other side of all this chaos. Must remember to breathe.” It’s what’s holding me together at this point, quite frankly.
Your post is another encouragement that is more timely than you realize. Thanks for pulling me back from the curb.
Outstanding, Molly. I love that. (What you tweeted, not that you had WTF-ian weeks. 🙂
One thing I’ve learned from the darkest times – sometimes we need to “borrow” hope from others for a season. That’s when having friends who’ve got your back makes all the difference!
I like that. “Borrow hope.” Cool idea.
To understand that life is gonna suck sometimes is how I (and my family) deal with those crappy days. Nicely written…
“Know how sublime a thing it is to suffer and be strong.” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
That’s a great one. Almost Spartan. Thanks, man.
Amazing post, Olivier. It’s old advice, but we need to be reminded every day: dust yourself off, and get back on the horse. Things get better, they always do. I love the Wayne Dyer quote by the way…changed my mood today. Thanks.
There are some pretty solid quotes in there.
Thanks, man. 🙂
Just now reading this, O…but what a great post and I’m sure much appreciated by the ones you mention. Sometimes friends like you are who we come to depend upon during rough times when there’s nothing else left. Being supportive is always an admirable trait and often overlooked by how simple it is.
Aw pshhhht. 😀
Olivier,
You remain an inspiration, your insightful regard for others is remarkable. We’re all here (life) to do something real important and you are.
Thanks, Mike. 🙂
Olivier, this is why I love you! How interesting we both wrote posts within a weeks time about life’s challenges, despair and why we a “world” we need to find ways to BE there for each other.
Having been in the situations you wrote about before, I know how deep, dark and deadly that space can be. How it can tear the very fabric of your soul.
Steve, I have a new perspective on why I want to have a one on one with you now after reading you comment about ( “borrow” hope from others for a season).
As humans we have the opportunity and the ability to see we are not our circumstances. Sometimes we need a good friend to stand there and help us see we are not our circumstances.
I am grateful to have such friends who can be that with love and light. (matter of fact I just tweeted them my appreciation after reading this) Which makes it easy for me to send loving, healing vibrations to each person you spoke of-knowing that when it arrives for them they can receive it in ways that will help them that very moment.
(Yeah you didn’t realize I was the deep gal spiritually too did ya@!)
🙂 See, you learn something new every day. 🙂
This is beautiful. I’m lucky to be able to consider you one of my best friends.
I should quote Martin Luther King more often. 😀
Thanks for sharing Olivier, touching, inspirational and personal, a great post.
🙂 Thank you.
What a beautiful blessing your post today is to all those who are hurting, and to everyone reading it, because at one time or another we have all been hurt in various ways.
Thank you Olivier. I hope that one day when I am in Greenville I will get to meet you face to face. Bless you,
It will be my pleasure. 🙂
Love this, Olivier. Also love that you didn’t say “you just need to be more positive”. When my world was falling apart, that’s the advice I got. ?!?! Ann’s right, this was a blessing. 🙂
Telling someone in a hole “think positive” is like telling an alcoholic “just quit.” It isn’t particularly effective… or compassionate. Later, maybe. In hindsight. Otherwise, yeah, too soon. 😉
Timing is everything. More people need to learn to listen with their hearts and think LONG and hard before they open their mouths. 😉
Hey Olivier,
Humility will take farther than you might expect, and life was never meant to be easy peasy, God is not interested in your comfort, he is interested in your Charachter Development.
Just enjoy the journey and keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities to make the world a better place.
How many people are better off because you lived?
Owen
Thanks, man. Yep. Wisdom. 🙂
Needed said.
Thank you, sir.
Overdue. 😉
Very good post and perfect timing. Thanks for going there on behalf of the friends we have in common.
Indeed. Thanks, man. 🙂
Amazing post, Olivier. This was exactly what I needed to hear to put things in perspective and lift my spirit.
🙂 I’m glad the timing was good.
I count myself lucky to have had one of those god-awful times early in my life. I really helps, now, when things suck. I just tell myself that I could be fired and flat broke at Christmas in Billings, Montana.
Life quickly looks much better.
Yeah. Once you’ve been through a few little life tests, things start getting easier after a while. 😀
Merci. From the bottom of my heart.
😉
Brilliant and quite timely. The quotes are beautiful and a gentle reminder that we can get through things, especially with love, support and hope. Thank you for being there for one of my dear friends (whom we also share).
I kinda wish I had seen this two years ago when I was in an absolute pit… but somehow I think I needed to see it more now, when the storm clouds have passed but still lurk on the horizon, when I’m feeling more optimistic but also worried about falling back in the pit, when I’ve experienced a few hits lately that cut much deeper than I want them to or am willing to allow myself to feel. This gives me hope that if I do slide back down… I will weather it again as I have before, because I was never alone to begin with. Thank you, Olivier.
Hang in there and take it one step at a time. Don’t let adversity beat you down. 😉
On first read this morning, this changed how I approached the day. I had to come back again. written with such generous empathy, it’s simply beautiful it’s so human. Thank you, Olivier.
Thanks, Diane. 🙂
Outstanding post – very insightful – I am living much of what you wrote – very timely
Gotta love good timing. 🙂 Hang in there.
Olivier – thank you.
Beautifully written. I know it will be a blessing to those who read it,
I think what you demonstrated so beautifully is that though we sometimes get so involved with social media as a business tool – what it really does it let us connect – truly connect and support our friends .
I don’t say it often – but bless you…
Viv
Thank you. To be social, it has to be human. And to do that, it has to be a place where every aspect of being human is addressed, not just the cool or convenient parts. 🙂
Thanks for the reminder, Olivier. Nicely done.
Dear Olivier,
your post reminded me of what happened in my office a couple of months ago. A voice talent came in for recording and brought her two young children along. Suddenly there was a commotion in the studio, followed by her carrying her younger one, crying out for help. Her daughter was choking on a cough lozenge. It felt like a dream – I got up from my workstation & did something that resembled a heimlich for kids, and I just remember stroking her back and using calm voice at the same time so that she’d relax faster. I don’t recall thinking about anything at that moment, but I think I only breathed again after the lozenge fell out of her mouth. My colleagues told me afterwards that they wouldn’t know what to do in that situation. That put a chill in me because I normally would be out for lunch during that time. I guess I was put there at that moment for a purpose. As scary as it was, I wouldn’t hesitate to do the same if (God forbid) something similar happens again.
Cool stuff, isn’t it? Someone is alive today because of you. 🙂
I never thought about it that way. Encouraging & humbling at the same time 🙂 Both mom & children came back to the office later in the day with chocs & flowers. So lovely! When I kept on telling her she didn’t have to (I really hope she knows that I meant it) my boss told me that I had no idea what I did meant to our voice talent. I guess moms know it best.
This is one of the major reasons I really ♥ you for being human all the time. Thanks for reminding us the often misunderstood phenomena of life. Peace to you my friend!
Thanks, brother. Like Dickie reminds us, the reality behind the smiling faces in twitter and Facebook isn’t always all smiles. It can’t all be about self-promotion and entertainment. For something to be truly social, it has to be human. And we can’t just be partly or selectively human. 😉
Olivier,
Fantastic post my friend. It will absolutely hit the spot for those people you care about and I care about. It reads straight from your heart; and I LOVE that! 🙂
I deal with lots of business owners every day and I know (because people like to open to me for some reason) that a few of them have dark days; struggle with cash flow and all the usual demands of running a business. And a few of them have personal issues too.
I love social media – the connections I’ve made through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Ecademy have been amazing. Serendipity was my word of 2010 and it still is in 2011 too. But because the world of social media can be a pretty cool place to hang out – it’s so easy to think every thing in the world is wonderful; that everyone is having a blast.
Sadly that is not the case and your blog post will be so timely for so many people we know who we don’t even know are in trouble. So I’ll be tweeting and RTing this post and posting it to Facebook too.
My favourite movie EVER is “It’s a Wonderful Life” with James Stewart. A story which demonstrates how many other lives a person’s life can affect in both good ways and bad ways. I try to have as good affect on others as I can. If I can be a real life “George Bailey” then I’ll die a very happy guy.
Olivier, you’ve helped so many people today and that’s a really cool thing. You ARE a real life George Bailey! 😀
😀 As long as angels somewhere still manage to earn their wings every day, we’re in good shape.
😀 Every time I hear a bell ring somewhere I think of that!
Seriously though Olivier; BRILLIANT blog.
Ooh, my favorite movie, too. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen that movie but I always cry at the end. “Remember, George, no man is a failure who has friends”.
This is why you’re awesome.
Ouais? Putain, chouette alors! ;D
Ah Olivier, starting my day this morning with your post and the heartfelt comments it has engendered. Appreciate all of it. Every word. And the generosity of spirit you reveal in taking the time to write it and share with the world.
Thank you. I enjoy the business you, the punk you that was (and is) and this you. An honor knowing you and a challenge to try and keep up…
Beautiful Olivier, truly beautiful.
Thanks, Olivier, for this very compelling post. Like Dickie Armour, I was reminded of the themes in “It’s A Wonderful Life”. You’ve put your finger on the pulse of us all since we are (everyone of us) really on the same level regardless of profession, achievement, social status, ethnicity, religion or nationality.
We need to be reminded of these realities. Thank you!
I want to add a little something. If you’re feeling lost and alone, it’s also really important to go against your instincts to slide further into the darkness, and make an effort to make ANY movement towards people who care about you even a little. Not necessarily to have a conversation – if you’re depressed or even just having a shitty week that you know will pass, the last thing you want to do is put more pressure on yourself.
For about a month now, I’ve been in an extremely high pressure situation, a very depressing one. And every time I was at the end of my rope, just one joke, a smile, a quick virtual hug from one of my “punk” friends helped me to hang in there. Still having a crappy time but those moments of relief mean everything when a simple conversation is an effort.
What’s amazing is that it put me in the right place, at the right time to be able to help someone else get something as wonderful as what I stand to lose. It’s completely nuts, but it made it feel like everything I’ve been going through was worth it, to be able to be there for someone I love.
Knowing at least one of this situations, and others that aren’t here, I know that sometimes life seems almost too much too bear. But when a friend steps in to lend a hand and a heart it makes all the difference. You are that friend today, but we can all be that friend when called.
Beautiful words — thank you. We were created to live in community with each other. Be it face-to-face or virtually, the support, caring, and sharing of joys and burdens are real just the same.
Thanks Olivier. Great post. Great people. Great friend.
Keep making a difference. Keep noticing theirs to others.
Hannes
PS: addendum to your last line “one breath at a time”
Thanks. 🙂
And sometimes people just need some one else to say, get back up and go forward.
Thanks for being that perosn today!
🙂 We take turns. It’s how it works.
So enjoyed this post! Having just had quite possibly one of the worst months in my life not too long ago, I have found great comfort in the act of rising back up after the fall (to paraphrase the great Nelson Mandela). That feeling is the best, empowered, hopeful feeling out there. I know I will very likely fall again; I want to remember the hope in getting back up after I do.
Thanks for the reminders. I hope your friends see hope, love and a new day soon. I know they must appreciate your kindness.
It took me a few days, but I was finally able to read this. Thank you. In the rat-race of daily business, a reminder to step back and see what’s really important — to keep going, never give up hope, and encourage others to do so — is much needed.
It took me a few days, but I was finally able to read this. Thank you. In the rat-race of daily business, a reminder to step back and see what’s really important — to keep going, never give up hope, and encourage others to do so — is much needed.
Lovely post Olivier, and lovely quotes (especially T.S.- so true…)
I just re-read this encouraging post, Olivier, in the wake of learning the news today about Trey. I didn’t comment when I read it back in June, but want to say now: thanks for the reminders, for the encouragement.
My thoughts, as one of the friends that I believe you were talking to in this article ended his own life this morning: http://bit.ly/o0NmaU