You have two true options: bitter or better.

Last week I mentioned that the only two options in choosing to live your best life was to Win or to Win; but I thought it would be best that I provided real life options. The actually reality options.

You have two options in life…two decisions you can make on how you will approach any situation given to you rather you choose the options voluntarily or involuntarily. Either you will become bitter or you will become better. Your decision or indecision. And everything you do will depend on the decision you make or don’t make it.

These are the two outcomes. Can I give it to you and be real about it? Whenever shit happens and shit will happen; you can take the punch and roll out or you can absorb the pain over and over and over again. I’m sorry but that’s life for you.

And that’s where many of us get stuck. Life has a way of punching us in the face and we stay right there. We don’t go past GO. That punch can be devastating (sickness, financial woes, job loss, at the wrong job, church hurt, relationship problems, divorce, addictions, children issues, depression, anxieties, etc). No matter what you face, at that time, it feels unbearable.

I’ll never belittle a person’s vices. Because what they are feeling is real to them. No matter how big or small it seems to an outsider, it is real to them.

My advice is that you feel the blow wholeheartedly, cry it out, scream or rest there for a second. But once you’ve felt it and dealt with it emotionally; you have a decision to make. You can either become a bitter person behind it or you can allow it to make you better!

I’m preaching to myself right now! Yes I blog. I’m a speaker. And I’m still not immune from having to follow my own advice! Hence why I blog and speak. It’s my way of speaking out loud to myself. Gives me healing with hopes of helping others at the same time.

I wouldn’t tell you all anything I haven’t had to deal with personally in some aspect. Each time I’m facing a difficulty, I have to make the conscious decision to allow it to make me better.

How I interpret the situation is key. After Joseph’s brothers pushed him into that pit and later sold him…later, on the job he was asked to interpret dreams. Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Genesis 40:8

Once I can get out of my own head with all the negative chatter, I pray to God to reveal the meaning behind what I went through. It’s not always easy to understand immediately. Some times it takes months or years to fully understand why I had to experience a bad situation before I truly understand it’s meaning or purpose in my life.

As long as I allow Him space to operate, I’m afforded the chance to stop telling myself all the wrong things, prevent all the negative talk. You do know that we can be our worse enemies, right? Often times long after the infraction takes place, we continue to degrade ourselves. We sentence ourselves to the most cruel and unusual punishments well after the incident is long forgotten.

What issue are you keeping alive and well in your head? Anyone else beating you up about it besides you? Or are you the only one not willing to forgive you?

It’s time to move on. Stop experiencing that pain and allowing it to take over your life. Bitterness can rob you like a thief in the night. Feel the emotions. If it pisses you off, be pissed. Take time to think the entire offense out from beginning to end. Recognize your misstep. Own it. And then let it go.

Make the conscious decision on what you should do the next time or the action steps you can take to turn that situation around. Work your plan until it turns around in your favor. Grow from that experience. Become better over time. You got this.

Thanks for your attention. Remember you are your own competition.

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