If it’s one thing those of us in the 2nd mile of life have learned, it’s that life rarely turns out as we planned and expected. In fact, it could be argued that we often find ourselves in circumstances that we would not, even in our wildest imaginings, have foreseen. Circumstances that are less-than-ideal, at best, and sometimes absolutely overwhelming.
Some 2nd-milers, for example, are entering this phase of life alone due to divorce or the death of a spouse. Others find themselves working full-time far past the age they had hoped to retire, and some are dealing with difficult, even life-threatening, health issues.
And while the old saying admonishes us to make lemonade when life hands us lemons, making something good from the not-so-good circumstances that come our way is rarely so simple.
So what can we do when life circumstances don’t turn out as we’d hoped?
It depends. It depends on what constitutes the negative circumstances. It also depends on our own personalities. What might help one person in a particular set of circumstances might actually be counterproductive to someone else dealing with a very similar situation.
But I’ve found through personal experience, talking with other 2nd-milers and experts in a variety of fields, and research that there are a few key things that anyone facing negative life circumstances can and should do.
These strategies will not alter our life circumstances. Rather, they equip us to deal with — and hopefully even triumph over — the lemons life has thrown our way.
But before I share the first key strategy with you next Thursday, I’m going to ask you to do one thing.
Between now and then, I want you to focus on keeping an open mind.
As I share the 3 key strategies, I may mention incorporating something you’ve tried before or that you used to do but somewhere along the line stopped doing.
I may share the benefits of something you’ve never done. Even something that you’ve always dismissed out of hand.
I want to be very clear. I’m not going to tell — or even ask — you to do a single thing over the next few weeks. I’m simply going to share 3 key strategies. I’m going to share how I and others have personalized those strategies.
Then I’m going to invite you to think about how incorporating those strategies might play out in your life, in a way with which you are comfortable.
That’s it!
I’ll be back next Thursday with Key Strategy #1.
