Dear Diary, WHY DO PEOPLE NEED DISASTERS?

The only time most of us ever learn anything is when we get hit over the back of the head! Why? Because it’s easier not to change. So we keep doing what we’re doing until we hit a brick wall. Take our health for example. When do we change diets and start exercising? When our body is falling apart – when the doctor says: “If you don’t change your lifestyle, you’ll kill yourself!” Suddenly we’re motivated!

In relationships – when do we usually tell each other how much we care? When the marriage is falling apart, when the family is falling apart!

In school – when do we finally knuckle down and study? When we’re about to fail. In business – when do we try new ideas and make the tough decisions? When we can’t pay our bills. When do we finally learn about customer service? After the customers have left!

When do we usually pray? When our life is falling apart! “Dear Lord, I know I haven’t spoken to you since the last time the yogurt hit the fan ...”

We learn our biggest lessons when things get rough. When have you made the most important decisions in your life? When you were on your knees – after disasters, after knock-backs, when you’ve been kicked in the head. That’s when we say to ourselves: “I’m sick of being broke, sick of being kicked around. I’m tired of being mediocre. I’m going to do something.” Success we celebrate – but we don’t learn too much. Failure hurts – and that’s when we get educated. In retrospect, we usually notice “disasters” were turning points.

Effective people don’t go looking for problems, but when they get smacked in mouth, they ask themselves: “How do I need to change what I’m thinking and what I’m doing? How can I be better than I am now?” Losers ignore all the warning signs. When the roof falls in, they ask: “Why does everything happen to me?”

We are creatures of habit. We keep doing what we are doing until we are forced to change.

Mary gets dumped by boyfriend Dave. Devastated, she locks herself in her bedroom for a week. Then gradually she starts to call old friends and meet new ones. She soon moves house and changes jobs. Within six months she is happier and more confident than she has ever been in her life. She looks back on the “disasters” of losing Dave as the best thing that ever happened to her.
Fred gets the sack. Unable to find work, he starts his won little business. For the first time in his life he is his own boss, and doing what he really wants to do. He still has his problems, but his life has new meaning and excitement – and all out of apparent disaster.