Don’t Let Pain Trash the Place—Hand It a Mirror

Maybe something happened yesterday.
Or earlier today. This week. A recent event.
Something that set you back.
An interaction gone awry.
A situation didn’t work out the way you expected.
You fell short - crashed and burned when you thought you were going to soar.
Or at the very least glide through.

Now you feel like the universe has served you up a reality cocktail that includes:
one part anger,
one part frustration,
two parts hurt,
and four parts hopelessness.

It’s a Long Island Iced Tea of Low Vibration.

OK... You’re allowed to feel that.
In fact, you should feel that.
Finish that drink. It’s on the house.

But you don’t have to order another.
Or another - and go on a bender of negative emotion.

Moments like that can define us.
For some, they retreat into the realm of “poor me” or choose to set up camp at the base of perpetual victimhood - where all signs point to everyone and everything else as the cause of their pain.

For others, that moment defines them very differently.
They take a long hard look at it.
Not to relive it - but to learn from it.
To locate the part of themselves that chose to try.
That dared to believe.
That maybe expected the world to meet them halfway… and instead got met with a brick wall and a laugh track.

And they choose to alchemize it.

Because when pain arrives uninvited, they don’t just let it trash the place.
They hand it a mirror.
Ask it what it’s here to reveal.
And then use that as fuel.

Maybe you’re that person.
Maybe today is the day you shift the question from “Why me?” to “What now?”
How can I show up differently moving forward?

Not because it’s easy.
Or maybe it is - easier than you expected.
Either way, it happens because somewhere inside you… there’s a part of you that is willing.

To rise.
To revise.
To respond with something new - by becoming someone new.
New and improved.

Not another round of the same self-pity hangover.
But a comeback.
From perceived victim of circumstances, to a victor over circumstances.

Or more importantly - not a victor over anyone else,
but a victor over your old self.

That’s when you’re buying the next round of drinks
and thanking the universe for lessons learned.

Just make sure you’re also raising a glass to yourself.
Not from ego - but from reverence.
For the part of you that stayed.
For the part that got back up.

You’re not better off because life got easier,
but because you became smarter, wiser, and more empowered.
You’re better off because you chose to meet life differently.