Lake Lettuce

Yesterday my dad, grandpa and myself decided to try fishing in a new lake. After an hour or two into our trek we reeled in yet another load of seaweed.

Dad leans in. “You know, mom’s always been into salads…”

We all chuckled.

Back on shore, we looked down at our sad stringer (the chain that we keep fish on) and watched as our single eighteen-inch northern swam laps beside the rowboat.

Later that day we released “Mike”, because there’s no point in cooking a singular fish. He happily swam away back to his fish fam.

Life can be disappointing; it’s common knowledge that things don’t always work out. As in our fishing extravaganza, we had high hopes for this new lake just to watch those hopes dashed two hours later. But what can we do when life casts the unexpected our way… is there a BEST way to deal with disappointment?

There are a couple things we can do to combat negativity in times like this. The first skill to learn is the 'mature perspective'. To see the silver-lining, sometimes you must force yourself to move, creating a new angle at which to view life. In the fishing scenario, that can be transferred to seeing it more as an experience and being grateful for that (it’s not every day I get to go fishing with my dad and grandpa). Even though the fish weren’t biting we managed to make a little contest to see who could catch the largest seaweed... and we had great conversation to boot!

The second tool we can use to fight-off disappointment is realizing the world will continue to spin. The mere thought of a brighter tomorrow makes things feel better. Knowing that this is one day out of thousands brings hope to the hopeless; not every day is going to be amazing – if that were so then there would be nothing to look forward to. We need bad days so that the good days are that much more enjoyable.

I know, there are some horrendous situations you may be dealing with. Not catching fish some random morning doesn’t compare to your current struggle, so can these methods still apply? Try for yourself, see if there’s another angle to which you can observe the situation. Is this difficulty a life-long burden or can the past be past?

Today, there’s a good chance we’ll go fishing again (even though I have sunburn… meh) but I’m going into this next trip with as much optimism as I had day one. Life is guaranteed to throw shade our way, so get ready for that snag and make sure to clean-off your line right away. The longer your line’s in the water the better your chances of catching that which you desire.