The Rainbow Comes After the Rain

Not long ago, I posted about Kacey Musgraves’ song, “Rainbow,” which talks about how life can be hard sometimes, and when the challenge passes, you may not realize it because you’re still stuck in the darkness. I said it then, and I’ll say it again because I think it needs repeating: after the storm, the rainbow comes. We forget this when we’re mired in sadness, frustration or rejection. Right now, many people are experiencing challenges in their work, the environments in which they work or even the fact that they don’t have a job or can’t find one.

In early 2002, I finished a project for Coca-Cola working as a contractor on the Salt Lake Olympics. The project went well and I had reason to believe it would enable me to get rehired (I had worked there from 1990 – 2000). But it wasn’t meant to be. Dejected, I began applying for jobs at other companies. In each instance, I was invited to interview. Encouraged at the start, I would learn that I wasn’t the right fit or that an internal candidate was given the job. I felt whipsawed and demoralized. Knocked down, I managed to pick myself up. After six months, I found a company, whose owners saw my value and offered me a job. A year later, I led a pitch to be the agency of record for Samsung for the 2004 Global Olympic Torch Relay. We won the business and I went on to lead a team that traveled from Sydney, Australia with the Olympic Flame to 33 cities in 27 countries on 6 continents, finishing in Athens. It was an experience of a lifetime.

I came back, however, to a business without enough clients or projects. The fears I held previously, reemerged. How would I make it? That quickly, I had forgotten about the rainbow. Fortunately, that morass did not last as long this time. I decided to leave my job and quickly found a great role at Newell Brands which positioned me perfectly for the work I do today.

If you are feeling the pull toward the darkness, I understand. There are myriad reasons to be feeling the call of those inner storms. Each can be powerful in times of despair. But when I saw this image, I wanted to share because I think it says it all in one picture: the rain and the rainbow can actually coexist. You can be in a puddle, feeling a bit stuck, but you can also see a rainbow right above it. Sadness and hope often show up together, and in a way, it’s an invitation to remember that nothing is all good or all bad all the time. Good and bad coexist. And with time, one of them will be the dominant of the two. I’ve got my money on the rainbow.