Zaynab Akbari - 1

If something bad happens to you, how should you react? How do you react? Use reasons in your response.

The situations we face in life are not always in our control and there may be times when nothing goes as we planned. But “C'est la vie”; that is life with unpredicted events and surprises. Some come to ease the hardships just like a miracle, while others may give us the shock of our life. Since the different experiences of every individual create their own unique personality and way of understanding, everyone's way of dealing with life's challenges is different. From my standpoint, when something bad happens to me I should keep calm and try to look on the bright side. Moreover I should accept the circumstances and look for the new possibilities that arise from it. However, I get easily frustrated at this time.

Perhaps we all experience a series of good and bad events in our lives, but I am convinced that what matters is how we react to them. The way I see it, accepting that things can not always be in my control, and that some situations are just meant to happen and no matter what I do I can not prevent them can alleviate my sorrow and make it easier to deal with them. When facing an unfortunate situation in which nothing is under my control anymore, I should remember that it might not work in the exact same way I have imagined, but it might be unfolded in ways I have never even thought that it was possible. Therefore, I should embrace the uncertainty, and be open to new possibilities.

Although, at the moment, when something bad happens to me or when things do not work the way I wanted, I panick, and blame myself that I was not able to manage things properly and as a result I lose my way. For instance, a while back I had a pretty difficult exam in university for which I did not study well during the semester. I had just one day to cover all the syllabus of the subject that had no idea about. I felt really fearful and anxious. I continuously blamed myself for not studying when I had time and spent all day panicking and thinking negatively and therfore I could not study at all. Finally, I took the exam and passed but with a very low score. If I had focused in studying instead of blaming myself and the short amount of time that I had, I would have certainly got a higher score.

To summarize, good and bad thing are both parts of our lives and lots of things that happen to us are not under our control. When we face challenges, all we can do and should do is to take a moment and try to see the full-half of the glass, because it is the only way that would help us handle it and overcome easily.