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As a career counselor, I notice career wisdom all around me. This past Sunday, I was inspired by talented guest musician Brad Yoder at First Unitarian Church and received his permission to share some lyrics from his songs. Check out his songs and performance schedule HERE.

First an excerpt from his song Compass, pure positive encouragement and help with decision-making for career and life:

Deep down you know there’s a compass in your soul,

Telling you the way to go,

Deep down, it’s true, there’s a map inside of you, deep down…

The other song that spoke to me was As Easily as Birds. In person, Brad invited the congregation to sing what you’ll see as final lyrics, the positive ones about not giving up.  That’s the message that I wanted to share. Interestingly, when I listened to it on-line, those words were very much in the background at the end with the pessimism message much stronger. I guess that can be like real life.  We need to pay attention and listen closely to words of encouragement, our own and from others.  Positive messages can often get overshadowed by our own negative self-talk.

I had a dream and you were there,

We were both suspended in the air..

Flying wasn’t hard to learn,

We could rise as easily as birds..

But I know that’ll never be, oh, that’ll never be,

As anyone can see,

That we may fly when we dream,

But we wake up to gravity,

So that’ll never, that will never be..

And my favorite lines:

Don’t give up so easily,

You can’t see how far the ripples travel…

I’m glad to share a bit of Brad’s talent with you, helping ripples to travel. If you or someone you know is a bit lost with career direction and needs a little assistance to uncover the map inside, I’d be happy to help.

When I started reading author Anne Lamott’s 2003 Commencement speech that made its way to my Facebook feed this month, I couldn’t stop.  Besides being thoroughly entertaining, I thought: what a fun and wise career counselor she would make!  I try to balance dreams and reality in my career counseling work, and like that she put some weight on the dreams side of the scale.

Here are two of my favorite paragraphs:

“I bet I’m beginning to make your parents really nervous — here I am sort of bragging about being a dropout, and unemployable, and secretly making a pitch for you to follow your creative dreams, when what they want is for you to do well in your field, make them look good, and maybe also make a tiny fortune.

But that is not your problem. Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you’re going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are.”

Click HERE to link to Anne Lamott’s Substack and full speech.

The incredible concert I recently attended by Ladysmith Black Mambazo sparked the inspiration for this month’s newsletter. Whether you’re facing challenges at work, navigating a job search, dealing with personal struggles, or feeling the weight of world events, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. One of their songs, “Tough Times Never Last, But Strong People Do,” offers a powerful reminder: even in the hardest moments, we can endure.

Strength can be built and sustained—physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Our mindset can either deepen the struggle or help guide us through it. And importantly, how we respond to difficult times not only shapes our own experience, but also influences those around us.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo rose to prominence during South Africa’s apartheid era, offering a message of hope, unity, and peaceful resilience through their music. Their influence reached even into prison cells—after his release in 1990, Nelson Mandela shared that their songs had been a source of strength and a symbol of peace during his imprisonment. In a powerful gesture of respect, when he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, Mandela invited the group to join him at the ceremony—underscoring the profound impact of their message during one of history’s most difficult periods.

Tough times are an inevitable part of life’s cycles—and part of the human experience. How we respond to them is ultimately our choice. Stay strong, stay grounded, and hold on to hope.

Click to hear Tough Times Never Last, But Strong People Do

Photo credit and link: Joe Mabel, Flickr via Creative Commons