When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

Today could've been one of these days. You know, the one that everything goes wrong. And it's Monday too! (Tell me why I don't like Mondays... remember the song?)

 

It started last night. We were coming back from a friend's party, the first after a long time, having had a wonderful time. Suddenly my car's warning lights started flashing, the alarm sounded, and the temperature indicator went on red. We stopped at a gas station and waited for half an hour. It was my fault. My car had been doing this for the last month, and I didn't pay too much attention, but this time it was worse... Anyway, we managed to get home.

 

I could've thought:

"Why did this great day have to end badly?"

Or "Why am I procrastinating? If I'd fixed it, we wouldn't be in this situation."

or even better (!) "I'm not good enough. I can't even take care of my car"...

But I didn't. These thoughts didn't even cross my mind.

 

So today, my - super helpful - guy took it to the mechanic. And what's very convenient is that the garage is opposite his house. It was an easy fix, but it took half a day to get the car back. I managed to do some work from my guy's home, but I needed to go back to my place... also, I had three cats to feed.

 

At 2:30 pm, I'm on my way. The traffic is terrible. Twenty minutes on the road and the car problem is back! I stop again at a gas station. Pour some fluids into the car and hope for the best. I get back on the road. One minute later, everything is in the red again! This time I know I have to call for help.

 

I pull over, call for a tow truck to come and get my car and take it back to the mechanic. It takes me more than half an hour to get through to a person and make the arrangements, and more than one hour after that, for the tow truck to arrive ...

 

I could've been frustrated, cursing, blaming the mechanic who didn't do a good job, the rain and the traffic. Not to mention the tow truck driver, who was running late, and his phone, which wasn't working properly and made it impossible for us to communicate ... But I kept my cool. Practising being present and aware of my reaction and response to the situation. Spent the time chatting on my phone or looking outside my window, noticing.

 

Then I get into a taxi, and the driver is such a slow driver!!! A while ago, the only thing I'd be thinking of would be: "Man step on it, I want to get home already!"... and again, I'd be frustrated, stressed and criticise the cab driver... and in my head, I'd be going through everything that's wrong with cab drivers, bad drivers in general, traffic and... this country!! Spiralling into silent, negative energy.

 

But, again, being aware and present, I instead, make small talk with him about cars. I eventually arrive home at 5:30 pm feeling fresh and ready to do some creative work... after feeding my cats, of course. So I do. And Lulu vomits three times all over the place. And I patiently clean up after her.

 

All is well! I sit on my computer and start working on my webpage, which I love doing.

 

I'm interrupted by my guy calling me with news about the car. The damage is more extensive than we initially thought. I can hear it in his voice. He feels sorry about it and a bit upset. I tell him not to worry. It's just a car, and there's nothing we can do about it. What is... Is. I'm totally fine with it. We hang up the phone, and I go about doing my creative work, never giving it a second thought. Feeling happy and content.

Until I see a Facebook post about our reactions to things that happen to us. It reminds me of my mentor, Jack Canfield. He uses a simple equation, E+R=O, to explain that:

 

"Whatever we experience is the Outcome of how we Responded to a previous Event in our lives."

 

And Events just happen. If we want to change the Outcome, we need to change our Response.

 

We can be reactive, feel frustrated, stressed, and angry, and have a victim mentality. Or we can be proactive and respond in a way that will benefit us and everyone around us. It's in our hands to get the outcome we want or the best possible outcome of a difficult situation.

 

I've been playing with this equation for more than five years now. I realise how much I've changed and what a difference it makes in my life! So much less wasted energy. Less effort and stress. More joy and creativity.

 

Looking back at my day, I see how it could've gone sour. I could've gone to bed depleted of energy. Feeling sorry for myself and not having done anything that brings me joy. Focusing only on what was wrong with my day. But I made a conscious choice to let that go and focus on what I want, what makes me happy... and I made it happen.

 

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. It won't always be the best one you've ever tasted. But it'll be a whole lot better than being stuck with sour lemons that will soon be rotting too!

 

Wanna know more about my way of dealing with lemons?

Here you can download my Free 5min Audio where I explain more about this magic equation. What I now call my MasterKey to Happiness.