Second chances, what does it mean to you? To a friend of mine who went through so much in this life, it means a very special gift. It means being given that chance to try again in life after a one big blow of failure. I’m not trying to be too emotional here, but when you see someone close to you who is having a hard time, and there’s nothing much you can do to help or ease the burden, I guess you would just feel the same way as I did. I bet you would also try your best to be able to come up with something that could be somehow of help to him or her.
One of my friends whose name I’d rather hide as Irene went through a lot of financial issues after her husband died. Prior to his death, the husband had to go through a lot of medications. As a loving wife with a couple of kids to feed and a husband to take care of, Irene ended up selling their properties. We can’t really judge her for doing so, because for the longest time she was dependent on Richard, her husband.  All she was up to was to be able to provide for the husband’s medication and to make sure her kids get to go to school and eat right. After sometime, Irene got into bad debts, and the worst part was, Richard succumbed to cancer. Irene was literally and financially left with nothing but a huge amount of bad debt. She had a few loans to pay, a house that’s a collateral, and spending power plummeted to down zero, negative even. She didn’t know just what to do, or who to run to.
We, as her friends, tried to comfort her and give her as much help as we could. But of course, that is no long term solution. So what I did was write her a recommendation and referred her to a good company where she could work at, for a good pay. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for them to survive and for her to slowly pay off her bad accounts.
She was so thankful for the second chance that was given to her. Irene was able to stand firm on her own again, with her kids as her inspiration. She worked her way to a promotion and later ended up having a much better pay than when she was just starting out.
Another second chance that she had was something she considered a fruit of her job. She got to apply for a new credit card that gave her balance transfer credit card offers. The balance transfer helped in setting a new due date for the old balance she had on her previous card. It really helped her in buying her necessities, while she’s trying to pay off the rest of her debts. She was so thankful that despite of the bad credit history that she had, she was still approved. To anyone who can just file an application and get approved without any hassles, this may mean a simple thing. But, to Irene who once thought that all hope was lost, it was like being given another shot to work her way on rehabilitating and improving her credit standing. One simple yet big step towards a better credit score and to make up for her credit history.
If I would sum it all up, I would say, what has driven Irene to move on, was knowing that other people trusted that she can do it, and that there are always second chances in life. May it be with your career, your financial life, or what have you. Success is never too hard to achieve, for as long as you don’t stop trying and never give up. Grab and make good use of every second chance you get, for they are hard to come by.

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