Hey all,
I've heard it's been a tough week. Things happen and you're not sure how to deal with them. A friend gets hurt by her boyfriend, an investment doesn't come through, some money get's stolen, someone you trusted lets you down.
Sometimes you wonder if it's worth getting up in the morning. I know I've been there. When all I wanted to do was pull the covers over my head and pretend the world outside didn't exist. I'm not sure I've met anyone who HASN'T had one of those days.
It's harder for some than for others. It's all about your nature--how you deal with adversity. Some people thrive on it, want to fix and overcome all the problems. Others want to mimic the proverbial ostrich and stick their head in the sand. But I think most of us fall into a different category.
We hang in there.
We don't hide, but we don't rush out to take on the world, either. We just hang in, deal with things as we need to, and hope for the best.
I had the above poster--or one like it--when I was in highschool. I know a lot of my generation did. And it's a sentiment I've never forgot. It wasn't, "when the going gets tough, the tough get going" or "he who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day". Nope. I was somewhere in between, keeping it simple...just hanging on.
For me, when something blows up in my life, my first instinct has always been to fight. To growl and spit and hiss and snarl. I have a tendency to react first and then think. It's taken me years to learn to handle things differently. And when I fail--which I all too often do--I add insult to my injury. Now I'm not only mad at what happened, but I'm pissed at myself for how I handled it. And that can be just as painful.
Because I'm one of those Mary Poppins types--I want to be Practically Perfect in Every Way--I have a really horrible time when things go wrong. I fight the fact that it happened, then get depressed and pissed at myself because I screwed up how I reacted to it. Sometimes, depending on what happened, it can take days for me to recover.
And THAT just pisses me off more.
One of my favorite movies is Forest Gump. I'll watch it every once in a while and marvel at how Forest reacted each time he went through an life change or upheaval. He felt, yet he didn't freak. He kept it simple. To paraphrase a FG quote, "simple is as simple does."
It's a great movie because it shows you that all kinds of things can happen in life--both good and bad--but it's not the things that make us who we are, it's how we deal with them.
Forest, by keeping his life simple and not "reacting", got through life in an amazing way. And what an incredible life he led. He may of been slow, but he wasn't stupid.
Sometimes I wonder if I could be like Forest. Look at things in the way he did. Simply. Without all the drama, frothing at the mouth and worry I do so well. All too often I think I know how things are going to turn out and so I react accordingly. But then I discover I was wrong...oh so wrong and I missed something that could have been wondrous otherwise.
It's way too late for New Year's Resolutions, but I think we should often re-evaluate our lives. And when things get bad, you can ponder this. Don't react, think things through. Get the facts before you go ballistic. As my mama used to say, "make good choices". *smile* I want to see life the way Forest did. Wide-eyed and child-like, yet knowing what was right and what was wrong, AND what was right and wrong for him.
Then maybe I can open up that box of chocolates and see what life has in store for me!
I'll be back on Wednesday with more fun and thoughts.
Hugs,
6 comments:
Definitely food for thought. Better than the radioman from OPERATION PETTICOAT, "You can't win so why even try." If you don't try how do you know you can't win.
One of my favorite quotes is, "The answer to every unasked question is no." Nike has a great quote. "Just do it."
On my profile I have, "Illigitimus Non Carborandum. Don't Let the Bastards Grind You Down." A friend of mine from West Virginia used to say that all the time. He was sort of a home grown philosopher. I wish I had a collection of all of his quotes like, "I was the captain's fair haired boy."
Much better way to deal with life than the others. I know the hanging in part. Sometimes that seems to be all you can do.
He sounds like someone I would have liked to know, Ray.
Thanks for the memory of Operation Petticoat. I'd forgotten that part.
Exactly, Phylis. What's the old adage? When you're at the end of your rope, just tie a knot in it. Love that one.
Good point CJ! I love the way that Forest Gump looks at life:)
I wish everyone could look at things so simply, Maria. I bet people's health would be much improved.
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