How To Make Lemonade
We all come upon problems, either self-imposed or from elsewhere, often from the least expected places. Little or big, easily managed or seemingly devastating, they all can lead to growth and a path to the good life. When we’re in the midst of the problem, it is not easy to think that this pain, this sidetrack, can lead to anything that could resemble good, but even if we can’t think that way in the midst of angst, the outcome can work to our benefit. How many people will describe a horrible incident that happened to them years ago and attribute a successful outcome to that incident? Is this just a nice way to justify the pain and suffering or is this really true?
No doubt there are lessons to be learned from those hard times, but I think the key to using them to grow a good life is being able to consciously learn from them. For most of us, though, when we’re going through a difficult time we are less than conscious of what is happening and how we are reacting. Interviews of people who have been involved in car crashes, muggings, fires and the like, will describe blanking out at crucial times, not able to remember after a particular point in the incident. That blanking out, functioning on “automatic pilot,” as many say, happens in all manner of situations, some not as dramatic as a fire or car crash, but as mundane as an argument with someone.
It is an important survival tactic that helps move us through severe physical and emotional pain and fear. Without it, we might become immobilized and unable to save ourselves or help others escape a tragedy. We hear stories of heroism and may wonder how that person found the strength to surmount the catastrophe which confronted him. He will tell you that he just did it, not thinking of the dire consequences that could have fallen on him or even of the danger confronting him. In the recent collapse of the 35W bridge in Minneapolis, a school aide initiated the rescue of about 50 children from their school bus precariously lodged against the railing of the fallen bridge. When asked by a reporter how it is that he did such an heroic thing, he looked somewhat embarrassed and befuddled. His answer didn’t come easily or smoothly, more of “I just did it” response. He really didn’t know.
No doubt he was in that time between consciousness when he responded to the situation without thought to personal outcome. How he uses this incident in his life is, of course, yet to be determined. Will he use it to rise to a level that he probably would not have achieved without this trauma or will it be the chain around him that keeps him from attaining what he considers success? We may never know the effect of this major event on his life, but it will have an effect.
The author is Harry Morgen, whose major is search engine optimization, he studies website design st college and he is now serving for a Internet Marketing website as a part-time job.
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