"This is it. This is when it all comes crashing down. "

What keeps a person from blogging (unless they make their living from it)? Well, in my case, I got a job.

Please don't read too much into that remark -- that's not an implied slam to bloggers. Writing distinctly, succinctly, and coherently, requires true effort and skill. But now that I've found my new groove, so to speak, I wanted to return to this page and begin posting again.

The topic? Just a little encouragement, that's all.

Just recently, I've noticed that most media outlets and bloggers (and very disparate ones, mind you) have now all been uniformly referring to this "economic downturn" as "The Great Recession." And I'm not arguing.

What have I been doing during the Great Recession? While I did keep busy with some nominal freelance work and writing assignments, I spent most of 2009 searching for full time employment after my contract work expired in April of that year. Living in Las Vegas (with an unemployment rate still hovering in the 13% range), I know I am not alone. And neither are you.

For those of you out there, still looking, still searching, I know exactly how you feel. I know what thoughts go through your mind when you look at the calendar, and then to the stack of bills, and then to the checkbook, and you say to yourself: "This is it. This is when it all comes crashing down. This is when it all falls apart."

But it doesn't have to. I sure as hell don't have all the answers. But I have left jobs in my life, and I have lost jobs in my life, and I am still here. And so are you. Most of us have little or no control over the life events that we face. But we always have 100% control over how we choose to respond to them. And it is a choice. And before you think I'm being glib, I'll be the first to say it's painful and uncomfortable to stand strong in the adversity we are all facing.

But you can.

You can make the hard choices about what is important in your life. What you can live with. And what you can live without. The people and attitudes you can live with. And those you can live without.

"Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

-Calvin Coolidge