3 Steps To Take When the Sh*t Hits the Fan
Your proverbial ducks are in a row — checkbook is balanced, everybody’s healthy, the home team looks promising going into the stretch…
Then WHAM!
The whole point of me starting this blog was the acknowledgement that life is a crap shoot. At any time, without notice or warning, the world as we know it can change in a instant. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a good scout. Paid your taxes. Washed your hands to a slowly hummed rendition of “Happy Birthday.” It’s gonna find ya.
Please dismiss the thought that this is negative thinking. It’s not. Real life moves up and down.
But we can’t go through life looking over our shoulder, either; the boogeyman around the corner, and all. You’ll just end up bumping into something (or someone) else.
Of course bad things happening is not penance for having a nice run of happy days. Somebody once said to me: “I’ve gone three years without an accident. I’m due.”
That’s ridiculous foreshadowing. And not a statistically significant way to approach life.
If that position made any logical sense then I say: “Hey, I’ve never won the lottery. I should buy a ticket. I’m due.” Side note: For consideration to claim your piece of my pie, you must provide: proof we’ve met or that we’re related (three forms, notarized), grandma’s secret bread recipe, and a folding chair. It’s going to be a very long line.
I’ve blogged here before about knowing the difference between the big shit and the small shit. Cancer, for my family, was on the top floor in the big department. A dead car battery the other day was a nuisance. And some shit is beyond our capacity to believe it’s actually happening to us.
This may appear a super simplistic “To-Do” list when the shit hits the fan, but it’s worth sharing:
3 steps to take when bad things happen
Accept the reality.
Whatever happened, has happened. You aren’t wizard enough to turn back the clock and prevent or change the facts. Get a grip as soon as possible. Sometimes it is a matter of life and death that you do.
If time allows, let the smoke clear. Take a breath. Or a day. Or a month. Or however much time is within the walls of decision-making to come to terms that this is the new reality.
Optionally, you might need to scream, cry or run around like a crazy person. Do that. Then suck it up and move onward.
Sort the Wheat from the Chaff
Some decisions might get made for you, as in you may have no say in how the next steps play out. The eventual outcome of today, tomorrow, or ever is beyond your control.
However, if there are options available, lay out the pros and cons of each. Enlist people you trust — the helpers — to bounce ideas off, explore solutions or prioritize decisions to be made, but only if it serves your immediate needs. There will be time later for sharing a plate of brownies and a bottle of wine.
Trust your gut, and your heart
Make logical, reasonable and optimistic decisions to move forward. And believe that you are making the best choices based on the information and knowledge you have right now.
Trust yourself to make both the easy and the hard calls. At first it may seem hard — it is; but look again. Later you’ll amaze yourself by what you’ve done under the worse circumstances.
The absolute best thing you can do when your world of lollipops and rainbows is on fire, is to point your hose in the right direction and be realistically optimistic.
And that’s big shit.
BE F*G AWESOME TODAY!
Original graphic and quote: Stephanie DelTorchio
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