“Tragedy is an ambush predator – learn to tame it.”
Yes, that’s because (if you’re well read) you’ve seen that over at RichardLand. The brainmusement park that’s outdone itself yet again in expressing what I always wanna say but never can as eloquently or coherently with my 34 word sentences and irrelevant metaphors running in opposite directions like a posse of cockroaches being approached. (See?) For instance, his recent piece on handling shitty happenstances made me forehead slap over not adding a subsection into a recent kinda-related article of my own. Not long ago, I wrote about the myth of the “bad luck monster”. How people say they have bad luck and then immediately start looking out for ways to match up to the new mindset they’ve bought into. That way they can tattoo powerlessness onto their identity list and never have to bother going through the pain of changing into someone who knows how to handle life versus blaming perceived disappointments on fate.
While I do subscribe to the idea of positive-affirmation, that’s just because it works.
Now “why” is an inquiry that’s up for grabs. I dunno if where I leave off, the cosmic gods take over, bewitch my rainbows ‘n unicorns words, and then blow them back into my world via won lottery tickets I’ve just not bought yet. But I tend to believe it’s more like you think your way into doing the opposite of what bad-luckers tend to do. “Oh, I missed the rainstorm – how lucky!”; “I missed that accident on I95 – how lucky!”; “Oh, I didn’t get abducted, shoved in a trunk, and then sodomized in someone’s dungeon daily for the next year until I had to claw my way out – how lucky am I?!”
“Now the rest of us don’t have to hear you complain about bad luck – how lucky are WE?!”
But living in reality and being Suzy Sunshine shouldn’t be mutually exclusive practices.
It’s like my homie Rich says: “Horrific-Adversity is an ambush predator. If you look it in the eye and call it out then it has a less liklihood of getting you.” Note he doesn’t say, “Call out its name while you bend over and let it fckk you in the arse.” He just says call it out. Tame it. ’cause while we remain hopeful, we’ve still gotta remain based in reality enough to face life head on. Especially when a hurricane of potential fckkery is headed your way. You could say it’ll be alright. Or you could say you’ve got an awful feeling about it. I suppose the trick is not to wallow in either over-confidence or start prematurely mourning your negative event before it happens (or doesn’t). ‘cause nunna those things are rooted in reality. You’re not a fortune teller, so when you start reacting based on an outcome that’s not yet been revealed, you’re taking mental energy away from planning for what really might happen while either setting yourself up for disappointment or needlessly stressing. Mental energy that could be used to map every potential calamity or negative outcome – sans panic – now while you’re relatively still clear headed. Keeping the positive outlook may sound tough during these times, but it’s particularly useful for remaining hopeful enough to not get distracted as you prepare for the worst and wait. That’s important so that later – should that dreaded tsunami of tragedy induced emotions have hijacked you – you can have a roadmap of solutions ready to go, including how you’re gonna handle it if it does.
Or like Rich says far better and more succinctly:
“So in life, just like in the ocean: Be aware of potential dangers, confront them, and fight fight fight.
Make the potentially horrific your pet.”