by Peter Twitchell
Everybody feels down in the dumps at some point in their lives, bummed out, discouraged, gloomy, and miserable. This is a normal human reaction when you lose your job, lose a friend, and lose your whole life savings.
Sometimes depression can drive us way down further than sadness. Feeling unhappy sometimes tips the boat too far, so to speak, imagine capsizing.
I lost my job once due to State funding being cut for the substance abuse program funding for the jails. It was not a good feeling, but after picking myself up off the pity pot, I changed my mind, and examined at my situation, as a way to get another job I would be happy at.
I chose to work for my native and tribal entity, the Urucararmiut Native Council, when I was offered the job for their tribal court and social services program. It turned out to be a very rewarding kind of work. It involved native child protection and adoption. During the course of my job, I was completing assessments of prospective new parents of a child, and making safety checks on kids who were in foster homes.
Between my jail job and my tribal court job, I had been involved in the Northern Lights Fiddle Band, where I forgot my blues. The main thing is to keep ourselves productive doing something we enjoy. Never give up hope that something better is waiting for us on the horizon.
When its crunch time, people can be very creative when their mind is focused on work and doing something better for yourself, and realize that nothing good gets done until we take one step forward. Once we’re in motion, we feel lighter and happier, something better ahead.
