View every obstacle as an opportunity.

Sometimes, things don’t always go my way: you may be shocked to hear me say this. And sometimes, I make mistakes (It sounds crazy, I know!). But every time I mess up, it’s just another opportunity for an improvement. I’m reminded of this any time something doesn’t go exactly as I’ve planned.

Today, the most insignificant setback has reminded me of this concept. Yesterday afternoon, I lost my cell phone. I tried calling the number over and over again. I called every establishment I had visited that day to see if anyone had found it. I think that I may have left it in a cab. One time, I actually found a stranger’s cell phone in a cab and I was able to return the phone to its rightful owner. So, I was nearly certain that my good karma would come in handy given my current situation. But alas, 24 hours has passed and my phone was still nowhere to be found. So I went to at&t and got a new phone- no big deal… except that now, I’ve lost all of my contacts!

For a brief moment, this stressed me out. At first I thought of it as a setback; but as it turns out, this is kind of a cool opportunity. Naturally, the first thing I did was to message all of my facebook friends and sent out an e-mail to request phone numbers. Reaching out to my social network in this way has turned in to an opportunity to communicate with some friends and family that I may not have connected with otherwise. Also, losing my numbers gives me a blank slate, a chance to start over.

It might sound small, but I think that my life often works like this. You may get laid off from your job or break up with your significant other. But ultimately it turns out to be an opportunity to improve yourself, improve your life or pursue something another potentially better opportunity. I find it interesting, the concept that everything in life is a balance between two opposing forces. In Taoism they’re called the Yin and the Yang. Yin and Yang are interconnected and yet interdependent. When something negative exists, there is always a positive counterpart. What I believe though is that I have a choice weather I want to focus on the positive or the negative aspect of any situation. Some people would say that I’m missing part of the whole picture, that my perspective is limited. But that’s what works best for me. I choose the positive. I view every obstacle as an opportunity, but never the other way around.