When Life Gives You Lemon

“But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.” ~~The Perks of Being a Wallflower

It’s not hard to think the logic between life and lemon.  You've tasted the lemon, right? That kind of sour-y and bitterly acidic that you may want to giggle a little bit as your taste buds touched the juicy part of it.  And just like it, life could be sour-y, or harsh at times. But what if life gives you lemon frequently?

Well, life is life, and life is becoming bitchier as you grow old. I’ve been in this world for quite sometimes now and I realized that life is filled with crappy things luring us to engage, ending us up in regrets. I have my fair share of regretful stories, and of course, I felt bad about them at one point in time because there is no way of escaping a step in going through stages of acceptance and healing. But as a strong person, as I was trying to be, I say, no regrets. On the other way around, I was happy since those situations taught me valuable learnings that made me decide not to do them again. I suffered quite a number of consequences already, but my point is, I have learned and life should go on no matter what.

I know some people who came from difficult backgrounds. Some made it a reason why they remained to be in piteous life. Some blamed their parents for being poor or having a dysfunctional family. Some hoped a rich billionaire will scope them into fine living conditions. Some even fantasized of winning a Million or two in a game show or reality TV contest in order to start pulling things together. And the rest are waiting for mercy. Or even those who have almost perfect upbringing are not exempted from having lemons in both hands at times. And since they are not used to it, they feel so depressed with that awry sensation and act as if diagnosed with bipolar disorder since birth or something. And I thought these ways of thinking and styles of reaction are so up-to-the-ceiling only.

I used to be a whiner. I used to flood my fb wall with my angst and frustrations over people and situations. But those didn’t count. Worse, people reacted to my way of seeing things and some educated friends slammed me of comments. I counter-reacted for quite a while, but I realized I was the one with distorted perceptions with realities. So what I did? Reduced the whining and stopped condemning people who made me feel unpleasant. And I only talked (over the phone, most of the time. lol) to people close to me who will understand my feelings and sentiments for certain things. And that quite helped me focus on thinking and doing something better.

From then, I believe that everything will turn out right if we are focused on to a good perspective in life. I did not say, I have the most amazing experiences, and job, and people who surround me, but  I agree to Stephen Chbosky, writer of The Perks... on what character Charlie (in the movie) had said about life. Yes, we don’t have the power to make a choice as to where we come from or what our childhood should be, but we can make things better. Or strive for the better. There are a lot of successful people in the history of mankind who rose to fame despite odd backgrounds because they get their feet to stand despite every bad thing. You know what I mean.

Also, think and reflect from your side where did you go wrong and make it right while you still can. If not, make those bitterly lemon-ey circumstances into learning experiences. Then, turn your life around by not putting yourself into the same remorseful things ever again. Finally, ask God to guide each and every step of the way.

Just that simple, life is not that very complicated to live at all. It is just us who insist on seeing it as series of unfortunate events or feeling it as if a living hell. Yet, why we feel that is not really all our fault because we are humans, and half of our brains is emotional. But it is not an excuse.

So, as a piece of word (or phrase), allow me to borrow this old saying, ‘when life gives you lemon, make lemonade.’