I’m sure for you, just like for me, there are many times when things don’t go as you planned or at least hoped for. I’m writing this post right in the middle of one of these occasions for me and, to be honest, I’m quite upset.
We know we don’t control everything that happens in our lives. But when they’re really important, even life-changing, when your plans fall through our reaction is to get angry and even lash out, in whatever form that might take. I know I used a few choice words today that I don’t normally use.
But we can’t let things that go wrong control us. Sure, we may be angry and we shouldn’t be surprised. And I can’t let myself remain angry about what’s happened to me. My pension papers weren’t properly acted upon so now I’m delayed. But I’ve done what I could to re-do them and will get them sent first thing in the morning. It will still work out but it was still a difficult day.
Here’s the thing, we can let things like this (fill in the blank for your own issue) infest us with anger and think of ourselves as a victim OR we can do what we must do to make things right and then, very deliberately, let the thing go.
That’s my next step for the remainder of the evening. Yes, I’m annoyed but, more importantly, I’m now doing what I need to do to fix it. And rather than be angry around my wife and any others, I must choose to move on by calming down and accepting what happened. I’m not happy about it but I must accept it.
Has this happened to you? And if it did, how long did you hold onto the anger or even the hatred towards those who “did this to you?” More often than not it was unintentional (maybe they don’t even know you, as in my case) and they didn’t do it to ruin your day.
What can you do to take control and let it go? Here’s a hint: just by writing this post I find myself calming down and again looking realistically at what I must do to accomplish my desire to retire.
Face what happened. Do what you can to resolve it. And then move on. Let it go so it doesn’t bring you unnecessary harm. We’re oftentimes our own worst enemy.