Blog – 7-13-16 Bitter or Better?
Life is all about experiences. Some are good, some are hard, some are sad, some are joyous. Reality is we are going to keep having experiences as long as we are breathing. There’s no avoiding them. All kinds of encounters with our emotions await us each and every day.
Experience is automatic, but insight is optional.
I’ve learned a valuable insight along the way, one that I hope will help you on your personal journey through your experiences.
Most of the time we don’t have a choice about the experiences we are going to go through, BUT, and this is a big BUT, we absolutely DO have a choice about how we react to them.
Experiences can make us bitter or better. Clicktotweet
I had a business deal that went bad. I was touring with two other women, and after 3 ½ years of time commitments, financial outlays, travel, and lots of very hard work, we were on the brink of things really taking off. We had someone with huge connections ready to get behind us, but then it all fell apart. One of the members backed out of the group, said it wasn’t what she really wanted to do.
Wow! Are you kidding me? Why didn’t you tell us that three years ago!
I was angry. I was hurt. I was beyond frustrated.
I stood at the crossroads between bitter and better.
I had to fight against my human nature to become very bitter and jaded and choose to be better. The honest, gut-wrenching evaluation of that experience taught me many invaluable things about myself and my business, lessons I would not have learned if it wasn’t for this situation happening.
Oh, I’m not going to sit here and tell you I haven’t been bitter about it at times, because I have. I’m human. It made me mad and it hurt, and I’ve had to vent about it.
However, I have also had to CHOOSE not to stay there.
Some of you reading this may be at a crossroads between bitter and better right now. Maybe someone you love has hurt you or even left. Maybe a friend doesn’t talk to you anymore and you don’t understand why. Maybe you got fired from a job you loved.
Will you become bitter or better? The choice is up to you.
It’s not easy, it is definitely not the most popular, but choosing the road to being better is the only way to move towards growth. I encourage you to fight back! Don’t give in to bitterness and anger. Turn it around and find a way for the negative situation to make you better! Harness the adrenaline that comes from that anger and the negative emotions and use them for growth.
Remember, experiences are only learning experiences IF we reflect on them. Otherwise, it’s just stuff that happens to us.
Every time the pain comes back, forgive again.
Every time you want to rehash the hurt, examine the situation again and dig out the nuggets of learning you can gain from that experience.
Every time you want to sit and party awhile in your righteous anger, remember where that anger will take you. Nowhere!
We all have experiences, and we all have a choice about how we react to them. Clicktotweet
The next time you get a bitter slice of life, choose to let it make you better!
Hugs and love,
~Jill
