Victor Frankl and how to not be depressed about the state of the Pharma industry

Especially within the last week, it is hard to surf the 'Net or turn on the T.V. and not be inundated with bad news about the economy or the state of the Pharma industry. With all of the negative news out there, it is easy to become overwhelmed. All of us collectively feel that we are the victims of circumstances and events beyond our control.

And the truth of the matter is that we have no control over these events. We have no control over the economy. We have no control over whether or not Congress will approve the bailout. We have no control over whether or not our companies will lay us off. The list of things that we have no control over is infinite.

So what are our options? Do we simply curl up in a fetal position and give up?

Actually there is another option....and this advice comes from Victor Frankl.
Victor Frankl was an Austrian Psychiatrist and survivor of the Nazi concentration camps. He wrote a book about both his experiences in the camps and the philosophy and the mind-set that he developed while imprisoned in them. In that book, "Man's Search for Meaning" Frankl summarized his philosophy when he wrote,

"Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

So when times get tough....and they probably will -
When the economy falters....and it will probably continue to do so -
We have to realize that while we can't control what is going on externally in the world, we can control our attitude toward these events.
So instead of worrying and being depressed about a pending lay-off....which we can't control anyway....we can instead update our resumes and work to improve our interviewing skills.
And instead of curling up on the couch depressed about our company's 3rd quarter earnings, we can instead get up and attend an industry related networking event and try to develop contacts that will enable us to move to a better company.
Bottom line...
Our attitudes and our actions are the only things that we actually can control.