Dear Friends,
I'm sure you've heard the old adage, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." Personally, I believe this is wonderful advice. After all, there is not a one of us who hasn't found ourselves at some point in time in an uncomfortable situation or facing some crisis. The question is what we do when faced with such things that can make or break us.
Whether your difficult situation involves a frustrating coworker, a financial issue, sudden job loss, a family squabble or some other crisis, remind yourself that you have options. Your options are how you choose to view and respond to the situation that's going on around you.
When bad things happen, it may feel like the wind has been knocked out of us. However, the best thing we can do is to accept the situation for what it is and to start looking at our options. Are there aspects we can control? If so, what steps should we take to do that? By taking stock of the problem at hand, figuring out what you can do about it, and letting go of the parts you have no control over, you are far more likely to come up with a positive solution that can reduce any negative impact and leave you feeling empowered as well.
When life gets really challenging, it is time to start looking for what there is to learn. And one obvious thing is that we do not want to find ourselves in such a situation in the future, if that is at all possible. We should ask ourselves if there is anything we did that somehow contributed to the situation. Even if the message is, "Just don't do this again," you have learned something useful.
Once you realize you have learned something valuable from a seemingly difficult situation you can use that knowledge so better your future, by taking steps to prevent a repeat incident, avoiding the people who constantly cause problems and/or changing your own behavior when and if such situations come up again.
Accepting the fact that challenging situations will occur and finding ways to adjust our own behavior to that we change what we can, and take steps to help us avoid such problems in the future, we turn negative situations into positive ones and enrich our lives in the process.
