Where’s your focus?

Last week, a piece of work came to an end. It left a hole, and it would have been easy to focus on the downsides.

I’m sure you heard of the phrase ‘when one door closes, another door opens...’, maybe even, ‘when one door closes, open a window?’ I think there are a plethora of versions now. Whether it’s Alexander Graham Bell, Helen Keller, or some social influencer or meme author putting a unique spin on it, the main focus is about looking for positives in what can at first been seen as a negative situation.

Sometimes we get bad news, but it’s how we react that determines the way we experience it.

For example, I live in an Edwardian terrace. In the recent pouring rain, drips had found their way through the bathroom ceiling overnight. Not good news. I felt deflated, worried. I took a deep breath, and inspected the damage, and then I laughed a little bit. They were dropping directly in to the toilet bowl... I know... Go figure! What are the chances of that? In that moment, I could focus on the drips and be anxious or I could focus on where they fell and be amused. Today I went for option B.

Why am I writing this? Honestly, I felt like someone needed to hear this today. We will all be faced by disappointments, bad news, challenges. We can’t escape them, they come with life.

Frustratingly, those internet memes are right, we can’t stop them coming, but we can influence how we respond to them and, from painful experience, how we respond is so often the weighty straw that could break the camels back.

A door closed. I took a moment to reflect, and then I went looking for another one. I found it, and it opened. If you need another stock phrase to inspire you today, ‘No one ever moved forward by standing still’. It’s annoying, but it’s true.

So if it’s you, and you needed encouragement today, you need to know that you’re not alone, I encourage you to think of my toilet... and let’s get at it.

@highcroftwriting

As always, if something is troubling you, please consider whether you think you would benefit from getting relevant support. https://helplines.org/helplines/

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#silverlining #highcroftwriting #whenonedoorcloses #openawindow