Embrace Adversity “ It's Inescapable

February 28,2013

Yes, my œdrug was chaos, and I surrounded myself with people who lived in chaos, fearing and worrying about everything. These were toxic relationships, and I needed to purge them from my life....

Who enjoys adversity? Well, to be honest, I used to enjoy it. I didn't realize how much I enjoyed it until I understood that I was a chaos junkie. Yes, my œdrug was chaos, and I surrounded myself with people who lived in chaos, fearing and worrying about everything and everybody. These were toxic relationships, and I needed to purge them from my life.

Reading this so far, you'd think I've eliminated all adversity from my life. But I have a surprise for you “ I haven't. In fact, I can't. I can try, I endeavor daily to find solely harmonious relationships and situations, but that's not the way life works. Let's take a look at a typical day's start:

I wake in the morning, inhale the ocean breeze, and watch the sun rise. So far, ideal. Next, I walk into the kitchen to make a frozen Mochaccino. I take out my blender and put ice in it. I turn around and plug in the espresso machine, returning to the freezer for ground espresso. There isn't any espresso. So, I look in the pantry and find a new bag of coffee. See, things are looking better. I run the espresso and let it fill the cup, simultaneously pouring milk into the blender. Except I forget to put the blade in, and the milk just leaked all over everything. Great!

So, I clean it up, losing a good fifteen minutes. I empty the blender, install the blade, and fill it again with ice. I add the milk. No leaks. Cool.

See, better already. I add the espresso, and start the second cup. I add the chocolate syrup, and blend it. I realize I didn't add the second cup of espresso. I decide to pour it in through the top of the blender without turning it off. It splashes back on me. Not a problem, except I have a meeting and I'm wearing my just-out-of-the-cleaners dress shirt. Yep, all over it.

So, I spend a few minutes cleaning up the kitchen, again, and change my shirt. After, I pour the drink in a cup. I'm getting smarter. My morning hasn't been perfect, and of course, because of the delay, I leave later than planned. Not a problem, I can still make the appointment. Except now I get stuck behind a truck going verrrrry slow in traffic. And then I am off on timing, and hit the drawbridge as it is just going up. Now I will be late. So what do I do? I do nothing. Not a single thing. I don't get upset, I don't flip out, I accept that I have no control over it.

As I cross the bridge at last, I see an accident at the intersection. I look closely and it's the car that had been in front of me that just made the bridge opening. And I realize that there is a reason I got stopped by the bridge. That would have been me. I'm now thanking the good Lord for making me late.

Life is kind of like this example, which is a typical morning for me. Things go wrong for a reason. Maybe you don't like it at the time, but there is a reason for everything. By embracing the adversity in your life, you may be presenting yourself with the opportunity to do something better. You may never know why.

Live life as it presents itself. You don't have a choice anyway, so you can choose to accept it and be happy or accept it and be unhappy. As the Serenity Prayer says, œG-d, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. You decide.

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MARK KILLAR

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