“There is nothing either good or bad but thinking that makes it so.” – William Shakespeare
A tale as old as time. Something happens at work or in life, an off putting conversation with a colleague, someone forgets to get their work done on time, your partner forgets to take out the trash despite being asked a few times.
Yes, all of these can be frustrating at times. But really these are simple observations. What do we end up telling ourselves?
“Our colleague hates us.”
“They are sabotaging me.”
“What is wrong with everyone?”
“My partner doesn’t love or respect me.”
We take these events and we make them worse in our head. Maybe our colleague is having a bad day. Maybe the person who forgot the assignment has trouble going on at home and is distracted. Maybe your partner has a lot on their mind and just forgot the trash.
There are lots of explanations for the things that happen. It is so easy to get carried away and assume the worst when the reality is, shit happens.
Are we hurt? Is this set back unrecoverable?
Probably not.
It is important for us to take things for what they are worth and sometimes not give them any more attention than necessary.
“Don’t let your reflection on the whole of life crush you. Don’t fill your mind with all the bad things that still might happen. Stay focused on the present situation and ask yourself why its so unbearable and can’t be survived.”
This passage from “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelias summarizes this idea perfectly.
All of these little problems are survivable. We will probably forget about them by the end of the day, definitely by the end of the week. So why get ourselves in such a tizzy when one thing goes wrong?
Is it frustrating? Of course it is.
Can we handle it? Of course we can.
See things as they are. Do what you can from there.
Jeff Kruman 