The short end of the stick

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Throughout our lives we are bound to find ourselves on the short end of the stick on occasion. When things don’t work out the way we had envisioned, or even when we find ourselves in circumstances where we get hurt ~ whether it is just our pride that is hurt, our ego, an emotional or physical hurtful experience…

Those experiences are never ‘good’ experiences.
Without exception ~ certainly right when it happens ~ we know we could have done without that episode.

On the other hand, depending on how we handle our involvement in the situation and what happened to us, we may come out (a lot) stronger than we ever thought we were. Or we can find ourselves sinking in a pool of negativity.

Coming out a stronger person usually means that we have learned from the situation. Whether we have learned discernment (“I don’t need to get involved in a situation like that ever again”), or whether we look at it from a ‘life lessons’ perspective (“What has been my attitude about myself and/or my life that has permitted that situation to come into my life in the first place?”), chances are that we will change our lives to such extend that whatever happened to us won’t happen again.

Sinking in a quagmire of negativity, however, may land us in an attitude that tells us that the whole world is against us, out there to get us. And everybody we meet will do things to purposely hurt us.
This means that every innocent conversation is taken personally. And every ‘off the cuff’ remark is taken as a personal affront.

Without a reality check, it is an attitude that is hard to step away from!
Because the negative attitude in and of itself becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy…

After all, we like to be among happy people rather than negative, unhappy people. So pretty soon those with a negative outlook on life may find themselves being alone more often than they would care for as slowly ~ over time ~ friends and family turn away from them.
And come to think of it, when every comment, every remark is taken as an insult, there is not a whole lot to talk about either.
And in the ensuing loneliness it is easy to propagate the negative attitude by observing that ‘nobody likes me’.

As the negative spiral goes down further and further, it may also become harder and harder, not only to ask for, but also to accept help to get out of the quicksand the person may find themselves in…

It is a way where how we handle things we encounter in life try can get us on the short end of the stick.
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