The Silver Linings of Hopeless Situations

You’ve probably said it yourself and didn’t really believe it: the old saying that behind every dark cloud, there is a silver lining. It’s hard to have much faith in that advice when that cloud is dumping buckets of rain on your parade. But, sure enough, it wasn’t long until the rain stopped and you were walking in sunshine again.

It’s the same with hopeless situations. We’ve all faced them when we know we’re going to lose or fail at something very important to us. It could be your business, a marriage, just a board game or a game of cards.

You’re playing your best, but no matter what you do losing is inevitable. Everything you did seemed right at the time and by the time you discover your mistakes, it’s too late. First of all, it’s never too late until the game of life deals you the death card.

The game of Monopoly can be a perfect teacher of how to play your life. We roll the dice, land on the right properties and make the right buys. But, somehow other players bought better properties and built bigger hotels and stayed out of jail. No matter what you did you kept paying their rent and fines and had to mortgage your valuable holdings just to stay afloat.

Playing at life can be a losing battle at times too. You’re doing all the right things, you budget, plan for the future but failure comes anyway. No matter what you do it all leads to the same outcome like a bad dream where you’re moving in slow motion and you plod to the finish line that says loser.

You may be faced with a hopeless situation at this very moment and you’ve contemplated taking a long walk on a short pier. Hey, it’s okay to lose if you turn those losses into gains!

If you realize there is no way to win, learn from your past mistakes, dust yourself off and try again. If you see you’re going to lose, stop playing to win and start playing to learn. It’s when you learn that you win.

You’ve probably been focused on the long term gain and failed to see the mistakes you kept making in the past. When you play to learn there’s always some measure of victory. Just like in Monopoly, you learn from each roll of the dice.

Analyze your past moves and see where you could have done better so you don’t make the same mistakes again. There is always another roll of the dice and always another game to play.

Playing the game again doesn’t guarantee a win but it guarantees another learning opportunity. You may learn you lack basic skills to ever win until you master them. If you’re stuck in this situation find a way to get out of it and move forward. Know that you can’t undo the past mistakes so don’t get stressed out over them. Use them as stepping stones to a future win.

Life is always offering a fresh new perspective if we choose to see it. We all lose and others have made worst mistakes than you. Be a gracious loser. If perchance you’ve never lost, then maybe you’re not living life to its fullest and leaving a lot of money (and happiness) on the table. There are no hopeless situations when you turn them into learning experiences and search for the silver lining.