Last week I made a commitment to myself. I decided that I wanted to start writing more and that I should start posting to my blog once a week. My The Struggle Is Real post from last Thursday was the beginning of that commitment. So, I got up this morning and started to write a post about having tough conversations with people and why having those conversations is so important to a healthy relationship. It’s something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately and trying to apply more in my work life, so I figured I’d write about it.
As I began to type, I realized that the words were flowing and pouring onto the page like they never had before - I was really in the zone. I usually struggle when writing these posts. I end up questioning myself and going back multiple times to re-read what I just wrote, but this time it was different. As I got toward the end of the post I went back to do a bit of proofreading when I got a pop-up notification on my computer that I decided to click away. Can you guess what happened next? Yep, the ‘edit post’ window in Squarespace closed, wiping away everything I had written. And no, there isn’t an auto-save feature either. Awesome.
To say I had an irrational rush of negative emotions would be an understatement. I immediately blamed Squarespace for not having an auto-save feature (I mean seriously, what the heck Squarespace?). But as I calmed down, I realized I had a choice. I could sit there and be pissed about losing my work and complain about how much Squarespace sucks, or I could decide to make the best of a bad situation. So, rather than try and recreate the masterpiece I’d just written (it was far from a masterpiece but I thought it was pretty good compared to what I usually write), I decided to use it as an opportunity to talk about taking responsibility.
We are 100% responsible for the things that happen to us in life. Sometimes we can’t control the input - when things occur that are driven by extraneous circumstances - but we can always control the output. How we react to a situation is 100% our choice and our responsibility, and the one thing we’re truly in control of. So the next time something bad happens to you, consider taking responsibility for the output. If you do, you just might be able to make the best of a bad situation.