I can’t decide if I’m a pessimist or an optimist. I’d like to think I’m the latter, but I tend to catastrophize future events as if it were my job. I imagine the worst about an upcoming situation, certain it will happen. That’s funny, because after a crisis, I often find the silver lining and think, That wasn’t so bad.
The part where I get to the not-so-bad is my favorite. It comes in handy in all sorts of life circumstances, big and small.
It helps when you’re born with a disability, but you see others far more impaired. It’s not so bad. At least one of my hands does what I want it to.
It helps after 36 hours of labor with your first baby. That wasn’t so bad. At least I didn’t have a C-section.
It helps when your leaning tower of drying dishes suddenly collapses, and a Corelle bowl shatters into a zillion pieces on the kitchen floor. That wasn’t so bad. I have a broom and my robot vacuum, and the boys aren’t home.
It helps when your kid throws up in his car seat on a long solo road trip. And then after you clean him up, he does it again 10 miles down the road. That wasn’t so bad. At least both boys weren’t sick, and we were right near an exit.
I suppose when I start out imagining what could have gone really really wrong, and it’s not as bad as all that, silver linings are in abundance. My goal is then to turn in thanks to God, because whatever touches me goes through his hands first.
And that’s better than not-so-bad.
Made for Eternity 