Dealing with the everyday ups and downs

Sometimes life can be like a rollercoaster.  Its only Wednesday and already my week has been one big one.  Monday was going to be the start of something great right.  I was going to get back on track with my exercise programs since I was injury free and get everything done on my to do list.  Plus I was hoping to get the final question answered in a positive so that I could get begin a new business venture.  So instead this is how Monday went.

I got up, did my morning devotions and then began the start of my workout schedule.  That went well and all looked like it was going to be a great day.  I had my breakfast and noticed the dishwasher indicator lights were flashing.  I proceeded with doing all the tricks to clear it and get it started.  To my dismay the dishwasher had given up the ghost.  So it was time to add dishwasher shopping to my task list.  I was quickly getting things done and received the answer I was waiting for and was able to pull the trigger on launching my new business venture.  I was so excited and life was great.  I went to get in the car and start the errands I needed to do outside the house and guess what my car wouldn't start.  We had to get it towed to the service station.  With the use of my sons truck I was able to do a few of my errands.  That evening I went to a networking event and met a contact that will greatly help my new business venture and had a great time.  I came home to the news that my car would cost over $500 and a new dishwasher would have to wait.  That was just Monday.

Tuesday and Wednesday have had both their ups and downs.  Most days don't have the severe swings that my Monday had but you will usually find it in a typical week.  What do we do about it?

Here is what I do.  First of all I recognize that all my plans aside I am not in control.  This is not a God thing, this is just what is.  Things happen.  I get injured so I can't work out.  Appliances break down, people get sick.  We can not control the events in our lives, but we can control how we react to them.  Do we let frustration rule as things don't go according to plan or do we take a breath and figure out a detour that will work.  Do we recognize that most of what is going wrong or different doesn't matter in the long run?

I heard from somewhere that it is a great idea to ask yourself, will this matter in 100 years. I think its from a book called don't sweat the small stuff.  The point was that most things are small stuff and don't matter in the overall picture of life.

If you can gain a new perspective on life and figure out that the ups and downs of life can be a fun ride instead of one filled with stress and anger then life becomes a little rosier.