Making the Best of Bad Situations

Often, life throws things at us that we aren’t prepared for. Sometimes, it leaves us disappointed. At other times, sorrow is the result. But all of the time, it is painful having to experience such bad situations.

A business deal falls through at the last minute. A relationship you’ve invested everything in crashes. You do twice as much as everyone else to get a job, but you never do. After starving so you can save, you lose all your savings to a sham investment. You fail an exam that you helped others prepare for.

Such is the nature of the VUCA world we now find ourselves in. Everyone must know how to handle such situations or forever be caught in the dark web of regret and pain.

Handling Bad Situations

When life does not go as planned, consider doing the following to make the best of a bad situation;

Take responsibility

From the first man till now, nothing much has changed. Humans naturally like to deflect responsibility for failure. We blame everybody but ourselves. Bad results are the fault of lecturers. A failed interview is the wicked HR’s fault. Taking responsibility is about critically examining the situation and seeing what you could have done better.

Learn

While no one has to fail to learn, there’s always a chance to learn with failure. Beyond the pain of loss and the sadness of failure, see the opportunity to learn. Your CV doesn’t win you the interview? Learn how to craft a killer resume that gets you the interview. By learning from the situation, you take away the situation’s power to keep you down.

Adapt

Every human being can adapt to the worst situations. It is how civilization has remained in perpetuity. Sure, it looks like tomorrow will be too hard because of the rejection. Well, you can turn the rejection into a redirection. When life throws stones at you, build a castle with the stones. Adapt and move on.

Stay Hopeful

Very important. Hope does not make anyone ashamed. The key to staying hopeful is maintaining a positive outlook on life. It can only rain for so long. Eventually, after the rain comes the sun. If you can hold out long enough, the sunshine is around the corner for you to enjoy.

Your turn.

Tell me, how have you handled bad situations in the past?