After living in his car in -10 degrees, $325.00 for a room and shared washrooms looked perfect for my friend in the boom town to which we had just moved.
These first answers in a long line of needs, job, permanent accommodations, and family separation just to name a few quickly felt like a windfall from the heavens. Several people that I met there and lived with could tell this same story.
I found it amazingly intriguing what transpired over the next few months.
These same people managed to find a job, start work. Their bank balance began to increase, their familiarity with their environment and system of the city, made them more comfortable, and they started to feel entitled to something better.
Now, they “Can’t wait to get out of this hellhole.”
How did these accommodations, though simple, change from a blessing to a hellhole?
Granted, they weren’t the newest, they were old. The accommodations weren’t the cleanest; they were old. But it was a far cry from the $700.00 others were paying for a single room, and it definitely was better than the back seat of a car.
Something changed for my buddy. What?
He had the same accommodations and great people living there. (Somewhat biased)
He had the same price.
He had the same people managing.
He was the same person evaluating.
There was only one distinct difference that I could find; my accommodation buddy chose a new attitude. Not good, not great; just new.
As I recall, things eventually worked out for all of us who shared this accommodation story.
If you are going to live through something anyway, why not live through it with a smile in your heart, not just on your face, but in your heart.
You can make that choice.
You Don’t Have To; You Get To!
