Kimberly L. Wright

“I get knocked down, but I get up again…”

This was a disappointing, tragic week in so many ways. It’s not even really worth unwinding the multifacetedness of it all, the huge amorphous glob of despair. But I will move on and try to find hope where I can. Are you feeling like I’m feeling? Here’s how you can fight back:

1. Go to the library — It turns out that in my love of the Fulton County library system, which includes many magazines available via Libby, I had allowed my Sequoyah Regional Library card to expire. Getting out of the house and seeing the sights distracts me for a least a little while. I renewed the card and found two books to check out. So now I’m reading What Color Is Your Parachute by Richard N. Bolles with Katharine Brooks and Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong. How many self-help books can one person read at the same time? Or rather, read some and then neglect, only to read some more a bit later. My reading habits are a bit haphazard, like my life.
2. Learn something new — I’m continuing my continuing education with Hubspot in digital marketing, and I think I’ll be delving into html next. All of this polishing and polishing will end up on a resume where it may or may not win anyone over. Heck, I’m trying. I’m doing all the crap they advise you to do.
3. Networking — I’ve signed up for a networking meeting in a couple of weeks that includes a session on interviewing. It will hopefully teach me the many reasons most hiring managers hate my guts once they interview me.
4. Don’t forget your hobbies — I’ve signed up for a couple of generative writing groups online. This should help give me a boost by forcing me to focus on something creative, rather than just hunting for jobs, applying to jobs, listing on a Excel spreadsheet how many companies have told me to go to hell, reading 1,000 articles titled “The Best WFH Companies in 2025,” “The Careers You Hate That Are Sure Winners in 2025,” “Why You Are a Yucky Loser Failing in Your Job Search in 2025,” “How To Be a Freelancer Without Starving to Death in 2025,” “Here’s How AI Will Make You Homeless in 2025,” and “The Best Companies to Liquidate Your Corpse in 2025.”
5. Don’t let doubt bring you down — It’s hard to feel confident after rejection No. 1,000, but at least I’ve had lots of practice with rejection by submitting to poetry journals. And my knowledge of apparently obscure phrases such as “tide over” should eventually help me find success at some point before the Earth becomes uninhabitable. Keep smiling.
6. Get a job, even with low pay — Eventually, I got lucky and was hired by a local market. The pay is less than half of what I’m used to and it’s part-time, but it’s a little slice of success. I’m primed for success, and I’m aiming to make some friends and jump out of my comfort zone. Who knows what I can achieve from a small health food store in the Atlanta metro area!
7. There is no tip No. 7 — Nope, that’s it. I’m all out of juice. This is the self-help portion of the blog post. Create your own tip No. 7 and go after this. You got this!