What does one do when you make a wager and lose everything? A number of years ago, I purchased ATA stock. ATA flew club members on vacation trips all over the world. It offered direct flights from Indianapolis and provided tremendous value for those who used its service and owned its stock. But something went wrong, the company over-extended, and finally went bankrupt. Those shareholders who held on to the end received nothing for their stock purchase. As an investor, you move on.
\nBut what of investments in relationships? Suppose you invest five years, ten years, 25 years, of your life in a significant other. Then one day, they are gone. Bad enough if they die in a plane crash or fall to disease, but perhaps worse if they just announce they\u2019ve found someone \u201cnicer, and better looking.\u201d
\nIf taken by death or disease, you at least embrace the memories, and savor the good times. Yet, that doesn\u2019t seem possible if in the end they reject you, tell you that you are like a pair favorite sneakers that no longer fit when the person returns home from camp. Rejection.
\nWhat does one do in the face of a dead loss, not of money, but of self-respect, self-worth, personhood?
\nIf you are a person of faith, you say there is a greater plan, Jeremiah 29:13 says: \u201cI have a plan for you, not to harm you, but to prosper you, to give you hope and a future.\u201d Yet, such words easily ring hollow.
\nPerhaps you embrace the opportunity presented. Maybe they are right. Maybe you\u2019re not all you should be. Take on a new hobby, a new focus, reassess and improve who you are.
\nOur world provides an abundance of circumstances where the mundane becomes the beautiful, no better example exists than the caterpillar who becomes a butterfly. Even if Nietzsche ended up in an asylum, many times that which does not destroy you does make you stronger.
\nDefy the dead loss; instead, fly. Soar above and beyond. Take the defeat. Own it; crush it; eat it for breakfast, defecate it out and start anew. Fly. <\/p>\n
Copyright 2016\u2014David J. Carr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What does one do when you make a wager and lose everything? A number of years ago, I purchased ATA stock. ATA flew club members on vacation trips all over the world. It offered direct flights from Indianapolis and provided … Continue reading