So, I won’t lie, as I write this post, I am in a state of feeling knocked down and belittled. Today was not my shining star moment. I am a true believer that we have total control over what we choose to learn and do with learned life experiences.
Learning from not-so-nice experiences in life is important, but how we choose to grow from them is even more important.
Everything in life has a lesson to learn from, let’s look at some important things you can do to get back up and running when you experience not-so-pleasant experiences in life.
Think about what you can learn – Take into consideration what you want to learn from the experience. Think to yourself, why did this experience occur and what am I meant to learn from it. Evaluating your experiences and reflecting on them can help you pull out the positive meaning of your bad experience. For example, you give a speech, and it doesn’t go as well as you expected. You thought that you had some great content to give to the audience, but their reaction was not as you expected. Perhaps this could be a chance for you to think about how your audience engagement was, or maybe the message was not quite as well targeted to the audience you were meeting with. Seek feedback about why things didn’t go so well and use that feedback as leverage to amp up your next performance.
Revise and Redo – Do you have a second chance with the individuals you are interacting with? If so plan to approach them confidently and try to build collaborative relationships. Perhaps you disagreed with a colleague and the conversation the day before didn’t go over as planned. Reflect on where the conversation didn’t go so well, think about what you could do better next time. This could be anything from improving body language and voice tone to improving your listening skills. Once things cool down, try to reapproach the situation productively and understand what the other person’s intentions are.
Go in with an open mind – Looking for a way to try to avoid feeling knocked down? Go in with an open mind and be prepared to experience things just as they are. While it’s true that there will be times that you can’t avoid being knocked down, you may be able to shake off the feeling if you go in situations taking things in stride. By experiencing things just as they are you can be in the moment and accept situations for what they are. This will bring clarity of mind and active concentration.
While it is true that we all experience not-so-pleasant experiences in life, it is also true that we can reflect and learn from each experience in life. Taking on bad experiences and turning them into positive ones can be an experience that is both healthy and productive.
Bliss + You 