When Life Hand You Lemons ...
. . . Make lemonade. You’ve all heard the saying. What does it mean? Essentially it means to have an “I can do it,” attitude, an optimistic view in the face of misfortune, or adversity. Since lemons are considered bitter, and lemonade sweet, you’re basically making the best out of a bad situation.
Unfortunately when something bad happens, it’s not uncommon to focus on it, talk about it to anyone who’ll listen, and bemoan life, “Why me?” That’s like getting the bag of lemons, setting them down, and watching them, thinking, “This sucks! I’d rather have chocolate!” Eventually, the lemons will rot. But what if you did something with the lemons? You could make the lemonade, yes, or use the lemon zest for a cake, or squeeze them in your water, squirt them on fish tacos . . . there are a number of great things to do with them.
What if you did something similar with your bad situation? Here’s an example: let’s say you’re about to go to the movies, but you discover you have a flat tire. You consider this a terrible thing; after all, you were really looking forward to spending some time with Ryan Gosling. Now you’re all stressed out, cursing the tire, the car, and your life. But what if you just stopped resisting the event? How about you call AAA, get your tire fixed, and maybe get caught up on things that you’d been meaning to do? Watch your favorite show on Netflix, catch up on your laundry, do some reading, or have coffee with a friend instead? You can turn a negative experience into something positive. Almost anything can work itself out into something better. You can’t change what happened, right? So make the best of it.
I’m not suggesting it will be easy. The easy thing is … complaining about the “bad” situation at hand, not what it could be turned into. So next time some unfortunate thing happens, stop and think, “How can I turn this around? How can I make it a positive experience, or at least come to terms with what is, and not what you wish it were?
It can be done with just a little practice. Start today. You know something you don’t like is going to happen at one point or another. Take the event and turn it into a positive experience. You’ll see the benefits almost immediately. What stress? What disappointment?
It’s all good!
Slipstream
Good advice. I've also found that not telling the story over and over helps you move on from it. Every time you tell it, you get bummed out again, so why keep telling it.
Sanatana
That's quite true. Also, you keep feeding it. And it continues to get bigger and bigger! We must starve it.
Evangel
Some people are likely addicted to making mountains out of molehills. It allows them to be the center of attention when detailing their drama to everyone. It's true they need to learn how to make lemonade instead. But there are also many unpleasant and tragic events in life that no lemonade can sweeten.
Sanatana
That's true. Some events are devastating and nothing can make it better. At that point, all we can do is reach out for emotional support and let time do its thing. Not easy, however.
Evangel
❤️ True.
Well Street
While not an exact parallel, reading this reminds me of jury duty, which no one wants any part of—definitely in the lemon category. However, everyone I've spoken to who has served said it was an interesting and educational experience—lemonade.