You have a friend who's just experienced a stomach punch to his or her career. Perhaps it was a termination or the person was passed over for promotion or some gem of an assignment was withdrawn or never offered.
Your friend is hurt and confused. You are asked to give some advice but you know the friend really wants some consolation.
Can you give any without using a bunch of cliches?
This too shall pass.
It may be a blessing in disguise.
You'll be better because of this experience.
It could have been worse.
Screw them if they can't take a joke.
Well, perhaps not the last one. [Although it's often worked for me!]
The fact that we slide into cliches and mottos doesn't mean that the wisdom contained in those phrases or sayings is shallow. It may mean quite the opposite. There are some events that have been so commonly experienced that the old, familiar bromides are truly the best and the creative mumbo-jumbo is the observation that should be suspect.
With the old lines, you are telling your friend that the hurt will be there, that it may never entirely go away, that its sharpest edges will be temporary and that - another cliche - the only way to get around some bad things in life is just to go right through them.
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