When I think of the negative emotions and experiences I've had to go through in life so far, it takes me back to moments when I was very close to giving up and calling it quits. Those sort of moments have been punctuating my life for so long to the point where it feels like coming face to face with undesirable situations has become part of my existence.
Truth be told, facing problems is part of our existential phenomena. Is it something I enjoy experiencing? Nah! I would rather not have to deal with pain, problems, disappointment and other negative experiences. However, I can't deny the fact that these things happen and when they come at you, one of the things you can do for yourself is to admit that you are in trouble and that the trouble is a serious one.
I made a mistake about that when I lost my laptop during my school days. The laptop was surprisingly stolen in a church. Seriously, losing my laptop in a church premises is something I never thought would happen. However, it happened and that shows how a lot of things which are supposed to be sacred are no longer treated as such.
After losing the laptop which had the first 3 Chapters of my academic project report, I spent the next couple of days living in denial of the issue at hand. For some reason, I chose to convince myself that "this isn't a big deal" and that "the thief will return it". I didn't inform my parents about that immediately. I kept them in the dark about it and spent too much time trying to convince myself that it will get returned.
Well, it never got returned and I still had a project report to work on and submit. This time around, I didn't have enough time for it and I also didn't have all the resources I needed.
Whenever I look back to that moment and the way I handled the situation, I always wonder if there is something I could have done better.
Would it have been better to immediately admit that something is wrong and let my parents know that I'm in a mess?
What if I went back to my lodge and started redoing my academic research report immediately instead of hoping for my stolen laptop to be returned?
Those are the things I lack answers for. What I know is that it still feels like the moment I spent in doubt and in naive optimism played a part in compounding the negative experience I had back then. Now, whenever I'm facing an unfavorable situation, I sit back to look into it and ask "What on earth is going on?"
That's the same approach I took when my finances took a huge hit in January. I looked into it and it was obvious that this is a big mess. So, the first thing I did was to recognize that "there is a big financial issue here". Admitting that made it easier for me to think of ways to make things better.
To be fair, I'm still in the process of figuring out how to improve my finances. What I've been able to achieve by admitting that I'm going through a financial drama was to readjust my expenses. Now, I'm not too worried about my upcoming rent or the money to cover my expenses for the first half of the year.
This doesn't suggest that I've solved the problem. The problem is still on. However, I'm learning and exploring opportunities that would hopefully make it easier for me to fix the problem.
In case you got lost somewhere in the post, the message is that when we notice we have a problem and admit that there is a problem, making an effort to learn what we can do to solve that problem increases our chance of solving that problem.
Thanks For Not Missing Any Full-stop or Comma.
Thumbnail Image is taken from Unsplash
Additional Image is also taken from Unsplash