Life Gone to hell in a Hand Basket? You'll be Okay

Has shit gone seriously south for you?

I can relate.

But these days when shit goes wrong I’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve to handle it, without wearing my body out feeling miserable and stressed.

I’m going to look at two different scenarios, in ascending order of shitfulness.

1. Making a Mistake, Buggering Things up, or Shit-just-plain-going-bad

Don’t get me wrong, I feel the pain when I make mistakes or when things don’t go to plan.

I’m hard on myself when I fail to consider something that results in a mistake, or when I have to deal with what feels like just another balls up in a long line of balls ups.

But now days when these situations happen, I know that there is always a gold nugget that goes along with them. There is, always, without exception, an opportunity to learn, and an opportunity to profit from what has gone wrong.

These days I look for this gold nugget opportunity straight away, and I try to grab it with both hands. I apologise profusely if I’m at fault. And I forgive myself quickly, because I know that like everyone else, I wasn’t born perfect and I will make mistakes. I don’t have enough time left in my life to dwell on negatives. As they say, when things go perfectly to plan and life is all smooth sailing, you aren’t learning anything.

And personally, I love a bit of personal growth, any way it finds me.

Speaking of personal growth, the next scenario gives you this in large helpings.

2. Life Turning Into Absolute hell in a Hand Basket

Here I’m referring to the kinds of situations where you find yourself laughing hysterically at nothing because you don’t believe the situation you’ve found yourself in.

Or the kinds of situations where you can barely recognise your life and you feel like you just have to grit your teeth continuously, until at some point in time, you will reach the other side.

Situations where if someone had said, this is what you’ll be living through in 20 year’s time 20 years ago, you wouldn’t have believed them.

These situations are of course the most difficult and painful situations that we go through in life.

However, such situations trigger the fastest and most massive personal growth.

For example, something I lived through recently was something that was associated with a fair measure of pain at the time, but *uck I’m so proud of how I chose to handle it now. If I die this minute, I know that someone will mention it at my funeral and I’m so pleased that I’ll definitely die prouder of myself and how I spent my time on this earth.

The other huge benefit that I’ve gained from such situations is that I’ve learnt how strong my spirit and my life force is. Even with very little sleep, it is miraculously strong and it sees me through. So now when I deal with another of these situations, I can step out of them mentally and know that my life force will help me find a way out of them somehow or other.

Such categorically shitful situations also give you the best stories to tell.

A good example of an all round categorically shitful situation that happily turned around is that of Suzy Batiz.

Suzy grew up dirt poor in rural Arkansas and was a three times married and twice bankrupt entrepreneur who took some time out after her second bankruptcy. During this time, she came up with the idea behind the product Poo Pourri, a product that prevents toilet odours using a combination of essential oils. Suzy’s business now manufactures a range of products and according to Forbes, it has achieved net revenue of $63 million.

Suzy of course attained the success she earnt as a result of the fact that she had to swallow a few awful shit sandwiches along the way. And what an amazing life story.

The worst situations really do make the best life stories, and you will come out the other side.

Also, as Marie Forleo wisely recommends, when things get bad, consider that things happen for you, not to you. When you think that things are happening for you instead of to you, you immediately look for what you are supposed to gain out of a situation, and to look for clues as to how you can best use the situation and find your way through to the other side.