When Life Hands You Lemons . . .

When Life Hands You Lemons . . .

. . . Make lemonade. You’ve all heard the saying, but 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, to talk about it to anyone who’ll listen, and bemoan life, “Why me?” That’s like getting a bag of lemons, setting them down, and thinking, “This sucks! I’d rather have chocolate!” If you don’t do anything with the lemons, they will rot eventually. But what if you did do something with them? What if you made lemonade, or used the lemon zest for a cake, or squeezed them in your water, or squirted them on fish tacos?

Isn’t it possible to do something similar with a 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 and Emma Stone. Now you’re all stressed out, cursing the tire, the car, and your life. But what if you just stopped resisting the event? What if you called AAA, got your tire fixed, and maybe got caught up on things that you’d been meaning to do? Maybe watch your favorite show on Netflix, catch up on your laundry, do some reading, or have coffee with a friend instead? A negative experience can be turned 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 to do is to complain about your unfavorable situation, not to consider what it could be turned into. 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 that event and turn it into a positive experience. You’ll see the benefits almost immediately. What stress? What disappointment?

It’s all good!