Life Struggles

Looking At Life In A Different Way

‘Look at life as a journey and enjoy the ride. Get the most out of the detours and realize they’re sometimes necessary.’ Donna Fargo

The above quote has a lot of meaning for me. When we see life unfolding as a beautiful gift, instead of judging what is happening in our life we allow ourselves to enjoy the ride instead of fearing it.

Let me tell you a little story about Oscar whose name has been changed. Oscar had just opened a new restaurant and was worrying constantly about making sure his customers were happy and attracting new ones. When business was good, he was on top of the world and if it slowed down he felt anxious and fearful. Oscar’s advisors told him this was normal and not to worry. Then one night a customer complained about the food in a loud voice and would not pay the bill. Oscar was distraught and was thinking about selling the business because he could not take all the pressure.

After the last customer left he sat down with his manager to discuss the incident which happened that night. His manager who had worked in the restaurant business for many, many years explained what happened was not out of the ordinary. Instead of looking at it as a horrible incident what could they learn from the situation?

After discussing the situation for awhile they both realized the customer was right, because he ordered his steak well done instead of medium. What they both learned was that the chefs had to pay more attention to what was ordered instead of just guessing. They both decided to have the waiters underline in red if a customer ordered their food in a special way.

Oscar learned that sometimes when things happen in our lives they are necessary. He started to relax, welcomed the learning experiences and enjoyed his customers. Today Oscar owns two very successful restaurants.

How would your life be different if you enjoyed the ride and learned from your not so pleasant experiences? I invite you today to take one of the small steps below, to change your perspective about life.

1. If you start to worry about something, stop for a moment and acknowledge the thought.
2. Give yourself permission to worry about it for awhile.
3. Ask yourself what can I learn from this situation?
4. Think about one thing you can do to change the situation.
5. Take action.

I would love to hear from you about your different learning experiences. Together we can support each other by contributing to this community our experiences, successes and wisdom. You are invited to leave comments on this blog or send me an email at helen@loveyourselfcoaching.net.