Getting Back On Your Feet

Getting Back On Your Feet

Everyone of us do have experiences [I had tons of it] in life WHEN things DON'T go as planned OR expected.  BUT being able to adapt to situations is a really valuable skill.  And WHILE it is indeed difficult to wade through WHEN it happens, once you've picked yourself back up, past failures can motivate you to do an even much better job the next time around.  As everyone says, 'FAILURE IS THE INEVITABLE PRICE OF TRYING TO DO SOMETHING'.  And indeed, that forces you to be even more creative as you look for new ways to approach a specific pursuit in life.  BUT can we agree that to Getting Back On Your Feet, we need an INSPIRATION but let's admit it, finding INSPIRATION from FAILURE is often easier said than done📗📙📘

I can easily relate myself to this dilemma during those times in the past when I was like near that 'gutter level', so near to the drainage that I could have been easily flushed out by just a normal water flow, without for torrential rains and flash floods to flush me out.  So, you might ask, HOW did I pick up the pieces?  First and foremost, I had to OWN UP to all my misses, my lapses, my shortfalls.  That was some of my toughest times in my life BUT I had to summon the remaining energy and fortitude 'LEFT IN MY TANK' for me to GET BACK ON MY FEET'.  Hard as it may be, I had to recognize that there was NO other way for me to resuscitate things💚💛💜

WHAT is it most psychologists are expecting from us when we are in the doledrums?  Being able to recognize a FAILURE means that you'll be able to re-cast it into something more likely to succeed.  FAILURE teaches you WHAT DOESN'T work, in fact.  Oh, I often hear this:  YOU NEED A SHOT IN THE ARM.  And this reminds us to remember our PAST SUCCESSES.  True, you FAILED this time BUT that is just a piece of a bigger picture💦💦💦

So, experts are counselling us that instead of dwelling on WHERE you went WRONG, remember all the times WHEN things went right.  And find a way to learn from your latest mistake in the same way you've learned from other ones.  And WHAT could be a much better 'ICING ON THE CAKE' than you yourself TAKING ACTION.  Once you've accepted your FAILURE, it's important to make decisions about WHAT you'll do next, because SIMPLY DOING NOTHING will only keep you stagnated WHERE you are💥💥💥

Our takeaway:  It's easier said than done but similar to a RESET or a REBOOT, So your NEXT STEP DOESN'T have to be BIG.  Sometimes, a small CHANGE can become a major turning point.  WHEN other people talk about their careers, it can seem AS IF everything was part of a grand plan.  BUT that is rarely true.  Try just going with something and see WHERE it takes you, dude😊😊😊

Never Reveal Your GOALs

Never Reveal Your GOALs

Social media is saturated with GOALS and DREAMS.  Nothing wrong sharing it in those platforms BUT here's a big BUT.  If you are plotting your major GOALs in life and even before you take the first steps, if you did share it across social media, even if you initially shared it to your close coterie of friends.  Your friends will share it their friends WHO may NOT be your friends.  True, most of them will be sharing it in good faith.  Before you know it, your personal goal you shared to your close coterie of friends has now propagated across multitudes of people whose names you haven't even heard from Adam.  Now, the BIG ASK, what's the fuss if your goal has now spread all over the social media communities?  Not to fuss about it BUT Never Reveal Your GOALs📗📙📘

Now, before I get doubted that I am into double-speak, please allow me to admit that I do WALK THE TALK.  Many years ago, NO ONE, as in NO ONE, and NOT even my loved ones, knew the major GOAL I plotted for the next twelve months.  NOT a knee-jerk reaction to events that may trigger personal decisions, I thoroughly assessed the horizons and I told myself, nope, I DON'T want to spend the next ten years in my home country.  NOT because I fell out of love with my home country and culture BUT rather because I plotted my medium-term career plans.  NOT out of selfishness.  NOT out of non-transparency.  NOT out of ill-intentions.  NOT out of bad faith.  Now, WHO amongst you ever announced a personal goal to lose weight to the world and ended up staying the same OR even gaining more weight than ever❓❓❓

We can even look back to those year-on-year New Year's Resolutions we are all so damn busy right before the New Year kicks in.  Yes, you can think of resolutions as setting goals or setting intentions.  Being satisfied with progress towards our GOAL is associated with positive emotions.  These positive emotions provide the motivation necessary to continue pursuing our GOALs.  Unfortunately, setting a GOAL does NOT always culminate in the desirable changes.  Thus, a critical solution would have to address how to close the gap between the intention and the execution [at work, we call it IMPLEMENTATION].  the demonstrable way to close the gap between intention and implementation is to 'PRIVATIZE' our intentions.  People tend to make their GOALs public , BUT research has shown that publicizing GOALs might jeopardize chances to achieve the GOALs📌📌📌

Researches by experts reveal that when we publicize our GOALs, especially the ones that have to do with our identity, our goal-related performance is compromised.  Ironically, this effect was only found for participants WHO are very committed to their GOAL.  And the experts state that the LESSON LEARNED is that the more passionate you about your GOALs, the more secretive you should be❎❎❎

From a layman like me, the question is, WHY would making our GOALs public reduce the likelihood of achieving them?  Experts explain that making GOALs and any progress toward implementation generate positive rewarding feelings.  In order for these emotions to be motivational until our GOALs are realized, that 'REWARD' has to be time-released.  Dude, for now, keep your GOALs to yourself.  Beat your chest and blow your horns once you achieve it❗❗❗

Why BAD Decisions Are BAD

Why BAD Decisions Are BAD

Yessssirrrs, a BAD DECISION is all you need to ruin your day.  That too starts the minute you wake up in the morning and you hit the snooze button.  You begin scrolling like a robot and there you go, you're about to ruin your next 24 hours.  NOT in a bag-bang way BUT slowly you are going to tuin every single hour.  That's how that vicious cycle works [and misfires].  So WHERE does our productivity goals for the day go?  So, Why BAD Decisions Are BAD?  Is it that HARD to actually NOT make BAD decisions?  Is it that HARD?  Nope, NOT THAT HARD.  NOT hitting the snooze button.  NOT touching unhealthy food.  NOT wasting time on movie binges📗📙📘

Seriously, it actually feels HARDER to stay in this rut.  Sadly, many people tend to confuse productivity with complex concepts.  To quote the oft-quoted one-liner from Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, KEEP IT SIMPLE [k-i-s-s].  Make GOOD decisions and your productivity WON'T be impacted, period.  So when is a BAD day indeed a BAD day?  It is WHEN you have to hit the RESET button.  True, we all have bad days.  And at times it starts right after you wake up, one foul-up after another leads to a bigger foul-up. BUT letting your energy flow away that too with deliberate choices is complete nonsense [I'll call it stupidity] and just because you're having a BAD day DOESN'T mean you have to watch hours of Netflix OR eat like it's your last meal OR just be a 'lazy dog' the whole day❓❓❓

A GOOD sleep.  A few minutes of meditation.  Time with your loved ones.  Healthy foods.  And some real, genuine reflection on your current life.  That's the long and short of life's simple recipe to get back ON TRACK.  It's true we make BAD choices, BAD decisions, at times because our life sucks.  At times, we seem bored with our daily life.  LIke NO adventure.  NOTHING exciting.  NOTHING else but a monotonous life.  That's BAD💥💥💥

Oh Oh, we all need to get back into that BIG TENT realization that people make thousands of decisions each day and every day, some are quite BIG ones, some are SMALL decisions.  And while of those choices do turn out great, chances are that NOT every decision you make will be a good one.  In my basic understanding of statistics, that's the law of probabilities applied in real life.  And WHEN you look back, you may wonder WHY you made those decisions, particularly the ones that turned out poorly OR led to feelings of regret.  BUT remember many factors come into play before choices are made and at times, it is NOT that easy❎❎❎

Our takeaway:  While it goes saying that you will probably continue to make BAD decisions from time to time, you can gain a deeper understanding of the process behind these sometimes irrational choices.  Understanding how these processes work and influence your thinking may help you to make better decisions in the future.  And at times even mental shortcuts may come into the picture.  So, if you had to think through every possible scenario for every possible decision, you probably WOULDN'T get much done in a day. At the end of the day, it boils down to us going BACK TO BASICS, arriving at informed decisions instead of off-the-cuff ones especially WHEN and WHERE emotions get into the way.  WHY BAD DECISIONS ARE BAD!@#$%?

How To FAIL RIGHT

How To FAIL RIGHT

WHO says we humans are infallible?  WHO says we're clothed with teflon such that we WON'T and CAN'T FAIL?  I think this is a given and no one will dare to argue BUT why DON'T we ask ourselves, How To FAIL RIGHT?  Because in the first place, we CAN'T just shrug off our shoulder each time we fall flat and FAIL.  WHETHER a FAILURE causes only a dent OR you turn black and blue, How To FAIL RIGHT???

Thing is, the two parameters of FAILURE are HOW and WHY you FAILED as that differentiates the GOOD versus the BAD type of FAILURES.  While the GOOD types are more related to experimentation, the BAD types are more related to inattention or lack of training.  The thing is, nobody wants to FAIL.  In fact, where possible, we have to avoid FAILURE at all costs.  BUT analysts believe that there are three things to know about FAILURE, namely:  THAT it happens.  THAT it can be destructive in ways you would have never expected OR imagined.  THAT there was a 'RIGHT WAY' to do it, thus averting OR avoiding it.  BUT what separates the GOOD FAILURES versus the BAD FAILURES?  It is the way we handle it forward💧💧💧

First things first, inspirational speakers tell us that "FAILURE IS AN OPTION".  Now, to align definitions, let us peg OPTION to CHOICES, meaning, if you had an OPTION, you had that CHOICE to make and decide.  Nevertheless, once FAILURE did hit us, first thing to do is to SEPARATE THE FAILURE FROM THE PERSON.  Else, tying up a person to a failure taints things and it could lead us to a biased judgment, like, 'OH, IT HAPPENS WHEN IT'S JOHN WHO DOES IT'!@#$%?

So, WHY do we need to separate the FAILURE from the person?  Retracting the steps to understand WHAT went wrong helps you to be less emotional and go straight to FAILURE itself because the first step to deal with FAILURE is to accept it.  IF in the first place we DON'T admit it, there is NOTHING to talk about.  So, you have to admit something has been proven wrong and from there, analyze the FAILURE with the basic questions of:  WHAT happened?  WHY did it happen?  Is it because of you?  OR is it because of a situation???

Experts talk about the ATTRIBUTION Theory which distinguishes DISPOSITIONAL versus SITUATIONAL attribution.  Like when a FAILURE happened, with DISPOSITIONAL attribution, you will say 'THIS WENT WRONG BECAUSE I DID NOT DO MY BEST' whereas in SITUATIONAL attribution, you will endeavor to find the causes from the situation.  Our takeaway:  Even when you believe you FAILED because of WHAT you did, FAILURE can be told as something that happens to you and NOT something that you are.  In a nutshell, this is what experts are saying HOW TO FAIL RIGHT💥💥💥

Nothing Is TOO HARD, Seriously

 Nothing Is TOO HARD, Seriously

Stress levels are way too high everywhere as according to a report, 35 percent of people worldwide said they were STRESSED and 35 percent confirmed that they experienced WORRY the day before they were surveyed.  So the bigger question is, WHY is it things seem much harder than it really is?  You might find yourself pondering WHY everything feels so hard.  Perhaps you're comparing yourself to your peers so hard?  And maybe you're noticing that they DON'T seem to be experiencing the same level of anguish.  Yes, this is one huge gaping hole and there could be multifarious factors in it.  BUT to simplify things, let's agree that everyone's journey is different.  BUT just because your peers DON'T seem to be struggling now, they may have it privately📗📙📘

As recent as the 2021 Gallup Survey, four in ten adults worldwide experienced a lot of worry [42%] or stress [41%] and physical pain [31%] while sadness [28%] and anger [23%] prevailed on the rest.  Yes, there's a myriad of factors that can contribute to life feeling singularly harder for us than for others.  We may be in that 'developmental' phase of our life that involves a big change, because change, even under the best of circumstances, is seldom easy.  It could be like finally leaving home for the first time to attend college in the city OR changing jobs, getting married, having children, getting divorced or even having your adult children [finally] move out.  Part of why CHANGE IS SO HARD is because it involves us changing our behavior.  In fact, research shows that changing our behavior ISN'T a linear process.  Instead, it is one full of clumsy starts and stops, leaps in progress only to regress to former behaviors quickly💧💧💧

if anything, the fact that things are feeling HARD in the face of CHANGE can be an indicator that you're working to CHANGE your behavior and that is a process that, by design, ISN'T easy.  WHEN acknowledging the impact of personal challenges, we'd be remiss to speak about this feeling of life being extraordinarily difficult without acknowledging HOW personal challenges impact hardship.  We all have different circumstances that can increase the intensity of our hardships though.  Experts point to FAMILIAL DYSFUNCTION as the most common circumstance that can increase the intensity of life feeling HARD.  Like you could be navigating a breakup or having lost someone in the family.  Alternatively, you may find yourself 'gridlocked' in conflict with your boss.   Thing here is that we need to thrive in community.  Without it, we may end up in social isolation💦💦💦

And experts do warn us that it turns out, social isolation and loneliness can even contribute to adverse health outcomes.  Another one of those circumstances is when you are in a crisis, either suffering from abuse, addiction, poverty, OR a chronic illness.  These factors cannot be overlooked and inevitably make life feel extraordinarily challenging.  We do have strategies to support you in this difficult season of life BUT first, we need to acknowledge HOW society may be contributing to HOW you feel.  Coming off the heels of that dreaded Covid-19 pandemic, most countries are now going through their respective 'economic turmoils' and that's apart from the war-torn conflicts both in Ukraine and at the Gaza Strip.  Then comes the financial stressors that have only exacerbated by skyrocketing interests of loans, mortgages coupled with economic inflation and even those whispers of a recession underway💥💥💥

So, the maddenning question is WHAT TO DO WHEN LIFE GETS HARD?   So, perhaps we all know WHY life is feeling HARD.  Now it's the time to consider WHAT we can help when feeling this way.  It's common to feel full of rage WHEN you're in this headspace.  In fact, it may even feel like you've hit your BREAKING POINT and are deeply angry.  BUT when we can face our anger head on without any distractions, we can use the energy to further propel ourselves forward, pass difficulties and beyond.  Our takeaway:  Do REST.  While it may feel counterintuitive to some, experts strongly encourage us to REST when navigating through life's hardships.  NOT only is REST a powerful antidote to our culture of constantly needing to perform, do and take action [even in the midst of hardship] BUT it can also do wonders for our well-being.  To quote experts, 'WHEN YOUR MIND IS WELL-RESTED, IT BECOMES CLEARER AND CREATIVE.  Dude, NOTHING IS TOO HARD, Seriously😀😀😀

Still Hinging On LUCK?

Still Hinging On LUCK?

Interesting topic once we talk about LUCK.  WHO does NOT want to be LUCKY anyway?  BUT are you Still Hinging On LUCK?  Please DON'T get me wrong.  NOTHING wrong to still hinge on LUCK as long as you DON'T breach that thin line between what is normal and WHAT seems not within the acceptable norms and practices in life.  If we seem to picture ourselves like this man swaying lazily along the beach, then and if you're hoping and hoping for LUCK to fall on your lap, then you could have potential issues ahead📗📙📘

How often do we hear someone blurt out like, "YOU're SO LUCKY"?  BUT hey, each of us, wherever we stand in life now, LUCK isn't WHAT got us WHERE we are today.  Whether you stand prominently OR abysmally, there could be more legitimate reasons WHY you're either hugging the cellar OR near/atop the totem pole and very certainly, LUCK has got NOTHING to do with it at all💧💧💧

Whether it's in our personal life OR even in our business OR work life, the eventual end result is and will NOT be your burden to bear BUT what matters is the PREPARATION piece.  Perfection in the moments leading up to WHATEVER decision you're making is your burden to bear.  While the outcome may NOT be in your control, the actions you take leading up to that point are absolutely up to one's sole discretion.  So, WHEN you take the time and energy to PREPARE, you become ready for the unexpected.  You become hyperfocused and are able to respond in a heightened state of functioning.  Thing is, PREPARATION is a way of life, a lifestyle skill set to build💦💦💦

So, how can get over that LUCK dependency?

CULTIVATE ETHIC TO TO LEARN - Preparation is nearly synonymous with learning.  So, if you have a difficult OR high stakes scenario approaching, consider to invest time up front to learn as much as possible about the options, people and even the possible outcomes involved

ASK FOR HELP - Connections are built through authentic conversations and most conversations are sparked with a question OR list of questions

Our takeaway:  Nothing should stop us from figuring out our own forecast and anticipate the probable results.  Thing is, we got to stop relying on talent and start leveraging from within.  No matter HOW talented you may think you are, the reality is that the talent is the very force witnessed in the moment while PREPARATION is everything leading up to to the SUCCESS.  Let's set aside LUCK💥💥💥

What's Your BASELINE In Life

What's Your BASELINE In Life

Oh yes, do we need a BASELINE In Life?  WHAT's BASELINE in the first place?  BASELINE represents a person's core nature.  WHEN you establish your BASELINE, you define the metrics and norms you need to achieve and live with on a barest minimum.  Circumstances may push you to breach it but by and large, you expect yourself to live life within the pre-determined criteria of your established BASELINE

BUT the catch here is that BASELINEs are a huge gaping hole in life.  And since our daily life lives around emotions, let us go through that emotional BASELINE stuff.  Thinking of your emotional BASELINE as the emotional state you would naturally gravitate toward WHEN NOT under significant stress OR influenced by external factors.  Essentially, it is your emotional 'HOME BASE'.  Understanding that BASELINE is a crucial step in building emotional resilience as it serves as a reference point for tracking changes in your emotional landscape

So, does this matter?  Psychologists tell us that our emotional BASELINE is never fixed at all.  Over time, it can shift as a result of one's experiences, life events and personal growth.  By recognizing your BASELINE, you can gain insights into your default emotional state and create your own 'warning system', so to speak.  And that awareness will enable you to detect those early signs of distress OR imbalance and even detect any unhelpful coping skills which sometimes creeps in way beyond one's consciousness

Experts encourage us to consistently reinforce our awareness to build that resilience from within.  Identifying your emotional BASELINE ISN'T just about categorizing emotions as good OR bad.  Instead, it's about fostering understanding and self-compassion.  WHEN you know WHERE you typically stand emotionally, you can approach life's challenges with a much clearer mindset and greater emotional stability

Our takeaway:  Let us NOT overlook that emotional BASELINE is the confluence between nature and nurture [as per studies by experts] briefly summarized below:

BIOLOGICAL FACTORS - That is our genetic makeup that can predispose our emotions

EARLY EXPERIENCES - Childhood experiences, family dynamics can leave a lasting imprint on our emotional BASELINE

Bottomline, let us be aware of our emotional BASELINE as it sways and swings in life

Life's BALANCING ACT

Life's BALANCING ACT

Life's BALANCING ACT.  Will this be a boring thread?  I hope NOT.  Because in life, everyone and everything in life needs a balance.  Whether it's about value VERSUS investing, saving VERSUS spending, receiving VERSUS  giving, demanding VERSUS acquiescing, being soft VERSUS being tough, being malleable VERSUS being agile and flexible, being short-term focused VERSUS long-term focused, being a hardliner VERSUS being non-compromising, OR it could be as trivial as maintaining healthy diet VERSUS accommodating junk food sparingly.  We can go on and on BUT this will be a very long list we CAN'T complete this interchange within today📗📙📘

Fact is, BALANCING ACT is a damn tricky thing because if you push yourself OR something to one side or area without being BALANCED, the weakest area will always hold you back.  That is the tricky thing that traps most of us many times in our life.  In fact, whenever BALANCING ACT is touched on, by default it tends to reference Work-Life BALANCE [but hey, WLB is just one tiny fraction of the whole pie of life.  In fact, no matter what's the most relevant topic on hand, the notion of BALANCE comes up almost all the time, with more questions than answers though📌📌📌

Again, the NOT so obvious truth here is that life's BALANCE seems like a mirage, the closer you think you get, the further away it goes.  And while many of us [that includes me many times [even till to date]] keep on aiming for it, finding the BALANCE seems so elusive.  Maybe you would feel disappointed because that's HOW most people initially react WHEN you perceive that you're NOT having the right OR optimized BALANCE.  BUT in research studies by experts, they state that BALANCE is NOT something we can get.  Instead, it is a STATE OF MIND.  It's the realization that life is NOT stable BUT in constant motion💧💧💧

In layman's terms, the experts are telling us that as our life is in a constant motion, this is akin to us riding a bicycle.  BUT again, WHAT confuses many of us is that much as we all want a BALANCED life, why does BALANCE feel like an elusive concept.  The paradox of BALANCE is that, the more we pursue it, the more things seem to fall apart.  Our worries tend to make us worry more.  Even from a semantics perspective, the word 'BALANCE' is both a noun and a verb.  So, this should NOT surprise us as we struggle to find it💦💦💦

Our takeaway:  BALANCE is bringing things in harmony and it's NOT something that you can get BUT something that you continually do on a consistent basis.  You could have effectively BALANCED your time between work life, personal life and social life the past month, NOT until when your other circle of friends would cajole you to join them in their social forays [like all the booze and alcohol] and at that point, your seemingly BALANCED life would reset immediately and that throws you back to square one.  In truth, our BALANCING ACT stretches throughout our lifetime💥💥💥

Seize The Moment

Seize The Moment!

I might sound nostalgic BUT many times in the past, I always lived with a SEIZE THE MOMENT mindset.  WHEN my CV/Resume profile was active in the market, headhunters would reach out to me left, right, center, rear, name it.  And during those 'cold calls', although I am happy and satisfied enough with my current jobs [at that time], I received those 'cold calls' with an open mind.  And if you think I was too greedy as I never refused and said 'NO' to those juicy offers, I had that kind of mindset because I always reminded myself that I'LL CROSS THE BRIDGE WHEN I GET THERE"📗📙📘

Please DON'T get me wrong.  I was never a job-hopper or a career butterfly, NOT at all.  BUT rather, I thought that I'd be fair to the market, to listen to the market demands.  At the end of the day, in Economics 101, it all boils down to that law of supply and demand.  And when those headhunters start reaching to me via their 'cold calls', I knew it, their candidate pipelines might be drying fast❎❎❎

To cut a potentially long narrative short, WHAT happened was that those numerous opportunities offered me those inroads to various career options that widened my horizons based on the capabilities I managed to acquire through the years.  Starting my technology career as a technical support, I moved up to management roles, then veered into project management, ERP implementations, Data Center operations and eventually Design and BCP/DRP, before I took on the PMO Head role covering Asia Region and later on managing the regional infrastructures across fourteen Asia-Pacific countries.  At one point, my CV/Resume was 'hijacked' by my own boss as it was peddled to a project proposal for HSBC India [then I ended up working out of India for eleven months]😄😄😄

Looking back, if I DIDN'T SEIZE THOSE MOMENTS, I am quite darn sure those opportunities would NOT have become available for me in my career.  BUT before I get suspected of encouraging workers to be job-hoppers, let me swing back to the flip side.  Setting aside that scenario of looking out in the job market, I can share my narratives right within the organization WHERE I'm with for about thirteen years.  And given the global footprint of our customers, if and when your boss pulls you in for help in another regional project, HOW can you say NO?  WHEN more operations teams are pushed under your wing, HOW to say NO?  WHAT dividends did I gain by SEIZING THOSE MOMENTS?  It widened and deepened my presence and importance.  And WHEN you are valued enough, you CAN'T ask for more💥💥💥

Our takeaway:  To be alive is to make choices.  Every day passes, choices have to be made.  And many of those choices may seem relatively insignificant. On the surface, they appear to NOT have any real bearing on HOW our lives will turn out, especially in the long-term.  However, often times, many of those seemingly small choices do in fact, influence in a great way the trajectories of our lives.  So, EVERY MOMENT MATTERS, seriously.  Some moments, we may choose to NOT show up fully, be it in the work place OR in your business.  And WHEN you DON'T show up FULLY, we subtly impact the type of opportunities that gravitate towards the the people WHO are prepared and ready for their MOMENT.  In other MOMENTS, we may choose to allow ourselves to be negative OR neglectful in our relationships with others.  And in so doing, potentially weaken the strong ties that one day we may need to rely on for support.  To SEIZE THE MOMENT is a subtle reminder to us that EVERY MOMENT MATTERS✅✅✅

Why All The FRUSTRATIONS?

Why All The FRUSTRATIONS?

Yes Yes yow, Why All The FRUSTRATIONS?  If each of us will 'inventorize' all our FRUSTRATIONS in life, I'm sure even if you burn the 'midnight oil', you'll NOT be done yet.  I could volunteer BUT I'm afraid I need to pull out tons of sheets to list it down.  BUT hey, HOW often have we heard 'THERE IS NO USE CRYING OVER SPILLED MILK'.  WHEN it comes to stress and anxiety, many times we are our very own WORST enemy.  We tend to grip on to events that we really need to let go of

We seem to have locked ourselves into a prison of hurt and YET we also hold the key to it.  Furthermore, stress has been shown to be incredibly bad for NOT only your emotional and psychological health BUT equally important to your physical health.  Through the years, I did bear witness to people I know first hand who have succumbed to serious medical conditions, mostly of which were traced to the enormous weight of FRUSTRATIONS in life they carried on their shoulders.  And sadly, till their worst moments when they are clinging for life, most of them were unable to rise up and recover, no thanks to the pile up of compounded FRUSTRATIONS they seem to have gone through the years.  

BUT here's a glimmer of hope for those so overwhelmed with FRUSTRATIONS.  There is a short list WHICH we ourselves can rid of it, with little effort, if at all, to name a few:

WHEN YOU KNEW YOU WERE RIGHT - and no one believed in you.  WHAT else can we do except to remind ourselves that everyone makes mistakes

YOUR UGLY BODY PART - BUT dude, NOBODY IS PERFECT, right?  Even the supermodels are NEVER flawless at all.  So, EMBRACE YOUR FLAWS

THE JOKE THAT WENT TOO FAR - And you were the butt of it.  And you were red-faced.  Think that most likely the person did NOT intend to take the joke too far

GETTING CUT WHILE DRIVING - Oh Oh Oh I'm a zillion times guilty of this.  Driving through a traffic gridlock comparable to Bangkok, Mexico, Istanbul, Mumbai and Jakarta, I've spewed out expletives countless times BUT did it help me?  NOT AT ALL.  So, I had to change myself, telling myself this is the harsh reality

WHEN YOU WORKED FOR IT BUT SOMEONE ELSE GOT CREDITED - C'mon dude, give that away as a bonus gift.  You will earn more credits along the way

NOT TAKING THE CHANCE - yes yes yes, it happens BUT if you missed the boat, so be it, pat yourself on the back that another chance will come

Our takeaway:  Let's be true to ourselves.  You can be scion of the rich and famous.  OR your parents could be just struggling factory workers BUT that does NOT make you inferior as compared to that scion.  Both of you will go through the gauntlet, with similar trials and eventually FRUSTRATIONS.  WHO will end up with his neck still sticking out?  WHOEVER is resilient enough to weather storms of FRUSTRATIONS.  WHOEVER is less onion-skinned to the brickbats in life.  WHOEVER is hardened enough to chug-chug-chug like that old locomotive train till it reaches the rail station.  FRUSTRATIONs?  Everyone has his own fair share.  WHY feel so hopeless and hapless when you can easily turn things around by pulling the bull by its horn💥💥💥