Perspective

 

I haven’t won many things throughout my life. I’ve always guessed the wrong number of jelly beans, responded too late to the giveaway, been just one box away on Bingo, or one scratch box away on a lotto ticket. I used to think this lack of winning was due to me having the worst luck in the world.

I was wrong.

This lack of winning was not a problem with my luck being bad, but my luck being misplaced. Some of my luck went into getting a wonderful set of family and friends to support me in my achievements, and the rest went into getting the man I married. I now consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world, but I had to change my perspective to see that.

I admit, I got incredibly lucky to have the support system that I do, and plenty of people don’t get that, but luck has nothing to do with winning at life. Like many before me, I’ve found that you work with what you have to achieve your goals and improve yourself as a person. Even with the most favorable of circumstances, no one can achieve your goals for you, or put in the level of work that is required to make you develop as a person.

Even if you feel like you’re losing, a change of perspective might be what you need to realize that you’re actually winning.

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  1. Mackinder Coolidge
    Mackinder
    @Mackinder

    J.D. Snapp:I haven’t won many things throughout my life. I’ve always guessed the wrong number of jelly beans, responded too late to the giveaway, been just one box away on Bingo, or one scratch box away on a lotto ticket. I used to think this lack of winning was due to me having the worst luck in the world.

    I was wrong.

    This lack of winning was not a problem with my luck being bad, but my luck being misplaced. Some of my luck went into getting a wonderful set of family and friends to support me in my achievements, and the rest went into getting the man I married. I now consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world, but I had to change my perspective to see that.

    I admit, I got incredibly lucky to have the support system that I do, and plenty of people don’t get that, but luck has nothing to do with winning at life. Like many before me, I’ve found that you work with what you have to achieve your goals and improve yourself as a person. Even with the most favorable of circumstances, no one can achieve your goals for you, or put in the level of work that is required to make you develop as a person.

    Even if you feel like you’re losing, a change of perspective might be what you need to realize that you’re actually winning.

     

    • #1
  2. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    What a great perspective! Winning!

    • #2
  3. Nanda Panjandrum Member
    Nanda Panjandrum
    @

    A much-needed reminder, JD!  Thanks! :-)

    • #3
  4. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Well said, JD. Perspective/attitude are everything! One small shift and a whole new world can open up.

    • #4
  5. Cow Girl Thatcher
    Cow Girl
    @CowGirl

    Mackinder (View Comment):
    Even if you feel like you’re losing, a change of perspective might be what you need to realize that you’re actually winning.

    That is the secret to a good life! Looking at things from a different point of view! This is so good, thank you for writing it.

    • #5
  6. Daniel Brass Inactive
    Daniel Brass
    @DanielBrass

    I have only won one thing in my life.  Many years ago, my wife and I were at a local art festival and there was a raffle for a huge nature painting.  I was filling out my ticket when my neighbor Phil walked up.  He and I had a relationship that was non-stop joking around. So…..

    Smash-cut to a few hours later I get a call from a # I don’t recognize telling me I won the picture. I laughed, said “you always got me Phil” and hung up.  The phone rang again.  It was the same #.  I answered the phone laughing and said “Phil, seriously, you almost got me” and hung up again.  The phone rings a third time and before I can say a word the man on the phone says “I am not Phil, you won the damn painting.  Do you want it or not”?

    Eventually my wife stopped yelling me at me and I went down and got the painting.    We had it in the house for years until our tastes changed :)

     

    • #6
  7. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    God does not always give you what you want for your own good.  Sometimes the best answer to a prayer is no.  God bless.  I’m happy for you.

    • #7
  8. Z in MT Member
    Z in MT
    @ZinMT

    Sometimes luck comes in the form of avoiding bad things instead of getting good things. Both forms of luck are valuable, but only the positive form gets noticed.

    • #8
  9. Cato Rand Inactive
    Cato Rand
    @CatoRand

    Two thumbs up.  I learned that not too long ago, at the advanced age of about 50.  I’ve come to be amazingly grateful for being among the most ridiculously lucky people who ever lived but if you’d have asked me a few short years ago I would have answered very differently.  It seems to be too natural for many of us to focus on the wrong things — either obsessing on the trees and missing the forest, or plain focusing on (placing value on) the wrong things that don’t matter.

    • #9
  10. Steven Seward Member
    Steven Seward
    @StevenSeward

    It is so refreshing to hear someone who is grateful for the important things in life.  We live in a strange time where material benefits are staggeringly higher than anything our forefathers could have imagined, yet we hear constant complaining about inequalities in life.  I once heard Limbaugh say that someone making about $33,000.00 a year in the United States is among the World’s richest 1%.  I’ve  always wondered about the general happiness level for people living far in the past, or people living today in very poor countries.  Is it any different than ours?

    • #10
  11. Grosseteste Thatcher
    Grosseteste
    @Grosseteste

    Thank you for this, gratitude is healthy and fun!


    This conversation is part of a Group Writing series with the theme “Winning”, planned for the whole month of May. If you follow this link, there’s more information about Group Writing. The schedule is updated to include links to the other conversations for the month as they are posted. June’s topic is up, please sign up to write about “School”!

    • #11
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