If you are over 40, it can be fun to think back over the worst moments, times when you had just found out something quite negative, frightening, depressing, etc. If you aren't over 40, maybe you haven't taken any serious hits. Or maybe you have only had one or two. With a small number of strong blows, each can still seem terrible in the extreme, regardless of what happened afterwards.
Why would I want to call to mind really bad moments? I am just trying to see that sometimes I did rise to the occasion, when the challenge energized me, roused my energies, mobilized my inner forces. Once in a while, a person can get a jolt of extra insight, extra courage, extra imagination.
My stepfather taught me to drive and we used a clutch transmission, not an automatic. In a driving lesson, I tried to take off when the light changed but I stalled the car. Then, I flooded it. He reached over and shut off the engine, taking the key. He said very calmly,"Let's just sit here for a minute or two. Other people may blow their horns and yell but let's just be calm and sit here." In an instant, he showed me calm enjoyment of the moment. What fun to just sit calmly!
One college summer, I worked in a boardwalk town on the edge of the ocean. My job was to walk the boardwalk along the beach, take pictures of people, and persuade them to give me their name, address and money to have the photo mailed to them. Very few people were interested. It became clear that I might make no money at all. Time to quit and return to the big city to see what I could wrestle up. Found a poor job at the Y teaching boxing, which I didn't know, and archery, which I did. Made it through the summer and the next year.
The next summer, I worked in New England while the girl who has been my wife for 50 years was in Florida. She wrote that she missed me painfully and would I please do something? I quit the New England job and bussed to Florida. Got a poor job there and phoned her that I was in town. Made it through the summer and the next five decades.
Sometimes, when darkness falls, you find a way to light a fire.
--
Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
