Setbacks reveal people’s true colors. What’s this about you ask? Well, most people can be all sunshine and rainbows when life is going great but what happens when they face one or multiple setbacks? You should always take a good look at how people react to those things. I recently faced a lot of those. I just failed and kept on falling but I know how to handle failure. There had to be a lesson in all of this and you can be damn sure that I found that lesson every single time. But most people turn bitter when stuff doesn’t go as they had planned it. They don’t turn their pain into fuel. They just turn it into more pain. To those people, I have one simple message: welcome to the show called life. You’re acting like a victim and you’re bitching about things that you can’t control.
You cannot tailor-make the situations in life but you can tailor-make the attitudes to fit those situations. – Zig Ziglar
Setbacks reveal people’s true colors.
I’ll never forget this story which happened about 2 years ago. There was a girl who popped up from the past. She wanted to meet me so I decided to meet up. She had been my high school crush but she broke my heart back then. Oh, the memories. But she popped up again years later and claimed that she was completely changed. It was fun until it started snowing (it was the middle of December). I wanted to enjoy it but she instantly warned me. She claimed that she was a bitch when it snowed, rained, was windy. Long story short: she couldn’t handle little setbacks and was passive-aggressive to other people to feel better. Although I can’t imagine that it makes you feel better if you act like that.
What would happen if she got a flight got canceled, got stuck in traffic…? I mean life throws a lot of these setbacks at you from time to time. You can’t get all depressed about those events!
A little setback tells you a lot about people and their mindset. People who can’t handle those need to work on some stuff. Or they need a new hobby because they’ve got way too much spare time.
Setbacks reveal people’s true colors. So how do I do it?
I just roll with the flow. First I take a look if I can control it and to this day onward I still can’t control the weather. I get that you’re disappointed after reading the previous sentence. I enjoy whatever weather condition’s coming my way.
My flight got canceled this summer.
My flight got canceled when I was coming home from Stockholm. But my heart didn’t skip a beat. We got a free hotel and free food an hour (all you can eat and delicious) after the flight got canceled. I was even looking for a way to get back to the training center since I already had done a morning session. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible. I got home the day after. Why would I complain about that? I wouldn’t complain even if I had to sleep at the airport. That must be a whole new experience.
Missed tons of busses.
I missed a lot of busses since sometimes they just don’t show up here in Belgium or they’re way too late. I just read until the next one arrives. But the other people all get caught up in their frustration but I get it. These people have to sit silently and stare at the road until the next bus arrives. Man, that must suck. Or they could mindlessly scroll social media of course. I suppose that you can scroll your whole life away if you wanted too.
Missed one training session due to traffic.
I once missed training since I got stuck in traffic and was home when the training started. I was pissed off at first but then I was like: I could bitch about it all night but that won’t change the fact that I missed training. So I apologized to my trainer and trained at home on the heavy bag. I enjoyed it just as much. I’m obsessed with MMA so I normally only miss training sessions when I’m injured.
I looked like a cover model on my bike.
This one was fun. I was riding my bike and on my way home with a white t-shirt and shorts. I guess that you know how this ended? So I was 15 minutes away from home when all hell broke loose. The rain started pouring out of the sky. So I came home and noticed that my phone wouldn’t start. I just used my old one again. That whole situation didn’t bother me at all and do you know why? Well, I’m not a materialistic person, it’s just a phone and I was in shape so who cares that they could see through my t-shirt. I must have looked like a Men’s Health cover model on that bike.
How would you react to those events?
So how would you react to those events? Would you become angry about or would you just not care? Maybe it’s time that you do some introspection? It might help you to live a happier life. Don’t worry those things would have frustrated me in the past as well but I’m a changed man now. It’s crazy how much you can change over a year.
So what if you can control the situation?
Well, then I take the bull by the horns and solve it off course.
Do you get it? It about your perception.
Setbacks are a part of life. You can’t live without having them and sometimes you’ll face multiple a day. Some are big and some are small. Some will be things that you deserve and others not. That’s the tragedy of life.
The weather, for example, is something small but a big injury is a bigger one if you’re trying to compete. You have to carry the cross upon the hill The first thing that you need to do is accept it and then you need to make the most of it. You can’t control most of those setbacks so the best thing that you can do it to simply don’t give a fuck and move on with your life.
I guess that that’s the reason why people give so easily to things these days. You’ll face little setbacks in everything you do or attempt. Relationships, personal goals…. even life in general, are all a series of setbacks. Your ability to move on in life depends on how you react to those setbacks. People who try to avoid them are avoiding life in general.
I’ve got one simple message to end this blog
So to the people who like to act like jerks when they’re facing a setback: don’t act like a toddler, get your shit together and be a joyful person. Make the most out of what you got and not from what you wanted. You won’t have a lot of friends when you’re not able to handle things that are out of your control. Remember that there’s always a new day tomorrow.
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Till next time
Alex
