30 Days of Joy: Turning Bad News Into Good News

Note: This article is the next step in my challenge to find joy in something — anything — every day for 30 days. Today’s entry is part 20.

This morning, I got some news I was hoping I wouldn’t get.

For the purpose of this article, the details of the situation are unimportant.

What is important, though, was my reaction to it.

Whenever I’ve endured misfortune in the past, my initial instinct has always been to shut down.

I don’t want to talk about anything, and I don’t want to do anything. I just want to be left alone with my disappointment/discouragement.

Today, I felt those same desires in the development’s immediate aftermath.

I thought about how I was going to blow off work, and abandon my diet, and embed myself in the couch until my mind was consumed with the 38 “House Hunters” episodes on my DVR.

But thankfully, those thoughts weren’t as strong as they’ve been before. Nor did they have the staying power.

And before too long, after processing my feelings as best I could, I sat down at my computer and upheld my promise to write this article.

As much as it sucks to have suffered a setback in one area, I’m encouraged by the progress I’ve made in another.

*****

This originally appeared on 100 Naked Words.