How to See The Glass Half Full
Either you drink it or you don’t
Last Saturday while on a queue waiting for the gates of Scream Park Manila to open and playing around, my iPhone 5 dropped four feet on the ground from my hand. Me and a friend giggled as my less than a year-old phone fell on its face on the rough concrete. I picked it up with a smile but when I turned it over to look at the LCD, a rough consequence revealed itself.
The screen was shattered. The phone was still working but as I swiped on the touchscreen gently, I could feel bits of glass on my fingers. I thought, “Oh shit.” And that was it. If it was the year 2006, I would’ve been so pissed. My evening would be ruined. I would be cursing the universe for bestowing upon me such bad luck that I did not rightly deserve. Instead, I laughed. My friends laughed. We took a photo of the phone, and of me and the phone. One of them put an L hand on my forehead to brand me a “loser”. The night turned out to be a blast.
The old me had died and I was proud of how I accepted what happened. I had come a long way and it was an achievement. How I did it? I changed my lifestyle and my mindset.
Accept the fact that shit happens. It happens to me. It happens to you. Yes, it happens more to some than others but it happens to everyone. No one who asked the universe why got the answer from its mouth. It could be implementing a random algorithm on who to strike with bad luck. It could be playing favorites on some of us. The fact is that we do not know why. Shit happens and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Smile. Giggle. Laugh. Absurd, you may think. How easy it is to smile, giggle or laugh on good situations. The challenge here is to smile, giggle or laugh during bad times. It’s very easy to frown, get mad and curse at everyone in sight. Easy doesn’t help us grow. Challenges do. Poke fun at the situation and you win. Nothing hurts a harbinger of bad luck than letting it know it doesn’t affect you negatively.
Be a loser. We have all been psyched that being a winner is everything. We feel we should be getting all the good things only. We feel we should always be on top. When we’re not, we tend to magnify the predicament and our self-entitlement reveals its ugly head. Life is a wheel. Cliche, we know. We cannot always be on top. We need to feel what it’s like to be under. So when our turn to be the winner comes, we will cherish it more after knowing what it feels like on the other end. The sooner we accept facts, the sooner we can move on.
Focus on the solution. ”I should’ve gripped my phone tightly. I shouldn’t have taken it out. I shouldn’t have played around my friends and settled into a borewhore in the queue.” I could’ve laid out a hundred reasons or excuses on how I could’ve prevented the situation but I didn’t. What’s done is done. There is no Ctrl-Z in life. There is no Rewind button to start over a moment. The problem has arrived and will not go away. Instead focus on finding a solution to it. I called a couple of people who works on my phone’s carrier company right away. I discussed what happened and asked them if there was any warranty or assistance my mobile carrier could give me. When their answer turned out to be a disappointment, I consulted my other friends. They gave me good advice and the day after, I got my phone fixed. Easy!
Surround yourself with like-minded thinkers. Over time I cut off negative people out of my life. It wasn’t an easy process and you had to be tough to do this. Keep in mind that you control your life. When you keep company with pessimists, negative Nancys, and miserable people, their attitude fogs over you and you become like them. If you spend more time with upbeat, positive and go-getters, you will acquire the same attitude and mentality.
Run away with the good. Lessons go beyond the four walls of the classroom. Lessons do not have to be always deep. Any good thing we take from our experience over the bad is a lesson we keep with us for life. The next time a similar situation presents itself, we then have an idea on how to deal with it. It makes us grow. Mulling over the bad will not make the clouds above our head go away. However, run away with the good and the sun will welcome us with open arms.
Now, I don’t wish for any of your phones to suffer the same fate mine did. I do hope though, when we meet and I give you a glass of water, your answer to the ultimate question will be a positive one.
