As a VMA Direct consultant, the idea of what I should write for this blog post actually struck me while I was talking to a candidate.

The candidate I was speaking to was very unsure about what decision he should make for his next career step. In addition to this he was really putting pressure on himself for various reasons and was hoping he would get a job as soon as possible. I absolutely understood his situation and talking to him actually reminded me of how I felt a few months ago when I was still job hunting. At the time, I was constantly applying to jobs, receiving rejections or even getting no response at all and I began to question myself a lot, wondering if there was something wrong with me… I started feeling very down and stopped believing in myself.

One day I woke up, took a deep breath and stared at my reflection in the mirror. Looking at my reflection I started assessing my situation by mainly asking myself who I really was and if the person I saw was who I wanted to be. Taking that step back to see things objectively triggered a change in me and made a difference to my attitude, which in turn had a knock on effect as to what was going to happen in the next few days and months.

I decided to take some time off from the noise around and from the countless job applications. I cleaned my room, got rid of things, deleted old job applications, started meditating more and tried to concentrate on myself for a few days. In other words, I would say I had a Life detox. During those few days I found a little book of quotes a friend had given me and decided to open it at random pages.

The book opened at the page with the following quote:

“Even if you fall on your face you’re still moving forward”, Victor Kiam.

I do not know how, but reading this quote just made me realise that I was doing the right thing for me and something then sparked. I continued spending a few days for myself building my own happy place by meditating, doing volunteer work, making lists of my qualities & faults and ‘wishes for the future’, asking for advice and help from friends and family, and so on and so forth. Going through each step of each day just changed my mood completely and reconnected me with my true self. I was positive and was ready to start applying for jobs again with renewed vigour.

My positive attitude really made a difference, and this showed in my job applications and their responses. I was aware that it could take time before having a breakthrough but I knew that by keeping this positivity in my life and with some persistence something good would eventually come my way – a few weeks later I was invited to interview with VMA Direct…

I know that the content of this story will make sense to many of you but I also know that most of us just forget about taking a step back, finding ourselves, building a happy place or going back to basics and having a fresh start. We just forget and sometimes do not want to reflect and renew because we get so caught up in all the noise and distraction in everyday Life.

As such, my advice to all of you reading this post is as follows:

1. Press the ‘Pause’ button in your life once in a while when you feel like everything is spiralling out of control. Carrying on in any situation with feelings like this will just make things worse for you.
2. Look at your own reflection and assess what you see. Take a few deep breaths and take a step back to look at your situation as part of a bigger picture. If you are not happy with your reflection then think about what you can do to make a change towards being happier with what you see.
3. Reconnect with yourself and create your happy place with the people, pictures etc.. that make you happy, do things you like doing, or even trying a new activity.
4. Do not be afraid to ask for assistance and definitely ask for help and advice.
5. Believe in yourself!
6. Be patient, persistent and positive: you are the only master of your life and destiny.

I hope what I have mentioned has helped and will continue to help you in your lives the way it has and still does help me today.

As the song says: “Don’t stop believing!”

By Tamara Certain

Junior Consultant, VMA Direct