I’m not going to spend this post complaining about my life. Overall, I think I have it good for right now. It’s just that when I look over my life’s journey, I definitely have had one of those lives where most things did not come easily for me…at least not up to this point. Like most people in this world, I had to work for what I wanted, and there was still no guarantee I would get it. I’ve been disappointed a lot in life, so much so that disappointment became, in part, an expectation. But more than my disappointment, I had my resilience and hope that, eventually, things would work out in my favor. And I’m still holding on to that notion.
Here’s how I feel about the hand we are dealt in life. There are no good or bad hands; it depends on how you play the hand you’re dealt. Of course, I must acknowledge that some hands are more challenging than others, but who knows how things will turn out with the hand one is dealt? I love playing poker (and other card games in general), so I can say with confidence that I’ve lost some games that I would have won, and I won some games that I should have lost. It all came down to how I played the hand I was dealt. More often than not, I lost because I was too afraid to play the hand, too afraid to put myself out there and take a risk. Only later, after I realized that a lesser qualifying hand won the pot, did I think, “Man, if I only stayed in the game!” (The should of, would of, could of is big in poker and life in general.) During the times I won with a bad hand was because I took a risk, played confidently, thinking that I had the best hand, and I didn’t give up.
I think back on my life now, and I try not to live with any regrets. Of course, I still have sore spots when it comes to some of my experiences, but I think I turned out pretty darn good for being someone who was dealt a different hand in life. It shaped me to be me, and I’m okay with me. Of course, there’s always room for improvement and growth, but overall, I came from being that shy little, sheltered girl to being a well-rounded, somewhat reserved blogger. That has to say something.
There are plenty of people who, from the outside looking in, may look like they were dealt a “good” hand, but from what I can tell, they have problems, too. Maybe not the same kind of problems as the general public, but they have problems. So it really comes down to working with the hand you’ve been dealt and doing the best you can with it. In my case, when I actually focus and work with what I know, I end up surprising myself because I played the hand I was dealt. Life is interesting in that way. No one’s life is completely perfect, and no one’s life is completely imperfect; that’s how I look at it. We take the hand we’re dealt, see what we can do with it, and try to make the best out of it. Play the game and see what happens. It might actually be surprising.