So, I broke down on the way to work this morning. Most people would have found this to be a terrible thing and let it ruin their day, but lucky for me I'm not most people. The topic of this blog isn't to complain about when things go wrong, or to say that they are a good thing, but more so to show that the attitude you take when bad things happen can dramatically change the way you look at misfortune. I also want to highlight the fact that you don't always have to be rich to get yourself out of a bad situation, but you have to be willing to take responsibility and overcome whatever obstacle is placed in front of you.
I'll be the first to admit I'm no good at being a motivational speaker, and I'll also admit that I don't know everything, What I can say with a certainty, is that I'm a professional at having shit go wrong and not letting it ruin my day. Chimney is on fire, car is in the ditch, outbuilding just collapsed..... just one more thing to add to my "to deal with" list. I have my dad to thank for a lot of my attitude in this regard, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but he is another one that just takes whatever life can dish out and deals with it (although he usually curses and yells more). If there is one thing he has taught me it is to learn to fix stuff yourself, don't rely on someone else to take care of your well being because at the end of the day its your job to look out for yourself.
Lets have an example: When my hot water heater stops working what do I do?
A. Call someone and spend money I don't have to fix it
B. Google how the hell a hot water heater works and figure out whats wrong.
Yea I'll choose B any day of the week. Thank goodness for the internet otherwise I would have to learn everything the hard way. The point is if you decided to call someone what do you gain? absolutely nothing, you spend money to get back to where you started..... having hot water. If you decided to fix it yourself what do you gain? You gain the knowledge of how something works and how to fix it, you may have to spend money on parts, but you end up much further ahead because you have grown your human capital.
Don't be afraid to fail! life is full of failure, but every time you fail you are blessed with the knowledge of what not to do. You fail at 100% of the things you never try. I'm very proud of the successes I've had over the years in fixing things either in my house or on my cars, but I've had plenty of failures along the way.... If I had just given up when that happened where would I be today?
I like to challenge people, so I want to take this opportunity to challenge you. Next time you feel like everything is going wrong, check your attitude and make the best out of the situation. Instead of getting a case of the poor me's realize that this is a chance for you to grow as a person. Make the best of everything you are given, even when what you're given seems like the short end of the stick. Now I have to go fix a Land Rover in the snow.
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