Sometimes I hate to assume that things will always go my way.

I’m writing this on a plane that has Wi-Fi in the back, but not in the front.  Can I give my upgrade back?

Or that something or someone you are looking forward to disappoints.

And when an employer fails to appreciate our extra efforts even when we have saved their bacon.

Sometimes an illness, personal tragedy, relationship or family crisis can not only ruin a day and adversely alter the course of our lives.

But there is much that we can do.

1. Problems cannot always be solved right away so a better use of our time and effort may be simply understanding and dealing with a disappointment, crisis or problem.
2. Avoid the temptation to expect that nothing else will go wrong because when something goes wrong, something else always seems to follow closely behind.  I use the imagery of a baseball team out in the field.  Those players never stand there and say, “don’t hit the ball to me, I might make an error”.  It’s the other way around.  They want the ball so we should say, bring it on, I’m ready.
3. Allow for sadness or disappointment, because it can be curative if we don’t dwell on it.

Life is like a roller coaster with ups and downs.

Some ups take us to new heights.

Some downs are really a test of new depths.

Most are bumps up and bumps down.

It’s the relatively small price we pay for all the good things that happen to us day in and day out while we are otherwise distracted by life getting in our way.

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