It is just unavoidable in life where you will show up to something and just be taken completely by surprise. Hopefully it doesn't happen often, but no matter how much you try to prepare yourself for some situations, the inevitable feeling of surprise will occasionally hit you. Now this has happened to me recently, and I have determined that the way you react to this unexpected situation tells a lot about who you are.
I ran into a situation several months ago, where a friend and I attended a meeting. The people we were meeting took one look at us and tried to leave. They wanted to retreat right away. To me, this is almost always unacceptable. You show up and don't like what you see, it is cowardice to leave.
Another response is to fret and see if you can achieve what you originally intended. If the surprise took you off guard, your reaction is to do what you can to create the situation you were hoping for. If it is a competition, you attempt to achieve the hoped-for result on a technicality. If it is a meeting, you attempt to have certain factors disposed of. If it is a debate, you attempt to turn it back into a speech.
Finally, I feel the appropriate response, is to do the best you can and live with the results. Recently, I went somewhere with five young people, whom I am honored to call friends. They were totally surprised by something that happened when we arrived that totally altered what we came there to do. They did the best they could with the hand they were dealt, achieved more success than anyone thought they could and achieved a whole lot of respect in my eyes. We were all depressed that it ended up being something different than we thought it would be, but I was very proud of them.
Life is a series of surprising events, to one degree or another. When you face an adversity different than you thought, but you give everything you've got to make it work, that is incalculable greatness. And I hope that when I am backed up again, I can learn from my friends and perform as well as can be expected for my situation!
Your cryptic remarks have me intrigued and now I want details because I'm confused, yet curious.
ReplyDelete"...If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat these two impostors just the same; If you can... watch the things you gave you life to, broken, and stoop and build them up with worn out tools... If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything in it, And, which is more, you'll be a man, my son!"
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