How To Handle Bad Days
Have you ever had a really terrible day? One of those days where everything that can go wrong does go wrong? Read this insane yet true story about a guy who had a challenging day, to say the least…
Bryan Heiss lives in Provo, Utah. One day during 1982, he awoke to find a leak in the ceiling of his apartment. The water was dripping in his face, so he jumped out of bed and called his landlord to see what could be done about the problem. When he stood up, he splashed in the water that was already gathering on the carpet. His landlord told him to quickly rent a water vacuum.
Bryan tore down the flight of stairs to get in his car to go rent a wet vac, but he discovered that all four of his tires on his car were flat. He went back upstairs, reached for the phone, and was shocked so severely it nearly knocked him down. Bryan then shouted for a friend and asked him to take him to get help.
When he got back downstairs, Bryan found that someone had stolen his car. He knew it didn’t have much gas, so he and his friend walked a few blocks, found the car, pushed it to a service station, and put gas in the tank and air in the tires.
Bryan later returned home and went upstairs to get dressed for an ROTC graduation ceremony he had scheduled that night. He donned his uniform and tried to get out of the house, but the water had caused the door to swell in its frame. He had to scream until someone could come and kick in the door from the outside.
When he finally jumped in his car, he immediately realized that he’d sat on his bayonet, which he had carelessly left in the driver’s seat. Bryan was taken to the hospital for some very strategic surgery.
Let’s pause for a second. You’d think that would be a good place to end this story, right? At this point, I just want to say, “And Bryan spent the night at the hospital and got a fresh start the next day,” but that’s not the end of this poor dude’s day.
Friends took him home, and when Bryan opened the door, he saw that falling plaster had toppled the cage of his prized pet canaries, killing all of them. As he ran to the birds, across the wet carpet, he slipped. He hurt his back so badly he had to be taken to the hospital…again.
By this time a newspaper reporter caught up with Bryan and asked, “Mr. Heiss, how can you explain all of this happening to one person in a single day?” Bryan answered, “It looked like God was trying to kill me, but He kept missing.”
We have all had bad days. The truth is you can’t choose what happens to you, but you can always choose what happens in you. No one can choose your attitude for you; that only comes from within. When crazy things happen to us, we have a choice to make. We can choose to get BETTER, or we choose to get BITTER. Our attitude will determine how we deal with the future.
Bad attitudes = a worse future
Good attitudes = a better future
Your attitude can change everything. But, of course, not everything will turn out perfect in your life just because you have a good attitude; it just means you choose to look at the good. This is why coach John Wooden would always say, “Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.” Winston Churchill said, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”
Attitude can change a…
MESS into a MESSAGE
TEST into a TESTIMONY
VICTIM into a VICTORY
Attitude says a lot about what is inside of us. Show me a leader with a great attitude, and I will show you a leader who will do great things. Show me a leader with a bad attitude, and I will show you a leader who will always struggle. Attitude is an inward feeling expressed by an outward behavior. You see, whatever is in us will eventually come out of us. Attitude is like the rudder of our lives that guides us. So goes our attitude so goes our outlook on life. If we choose a great attitude, life gets easier; however, life just gets harder when we choose a bad attitude. We can’t change what happens to us, but we can choose how we handle it. Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond to it. American Novelist Raymond Chandler said, “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”
The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is their RESPONSE to circumstances. Successful people learn and live from their experiences. Unsuccessful people become bitter and give up because of their experiences. Unsuccessful people are REACTIVE; successful people are PROACTIVE. Proactive people take responsibility for their attitudes; reactive people are controlled by their attitudes. Unless you can harness your attitude, you will never be able to steer your future in the right direction. Reactive people get knocked off course easily. They are swayed by the way other people treat them. They become bitter about circumstances in their life as they feel insecure and out of control. Proactive people are focused on their journey; they get better as they learn from their circumstances and feel confident in their future!
Are you in control of your attitude, or is your attitude in control of you?
