Turning Problems into Gifts

Final installment today on my personal reflection on the following quote:

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.

It turns what we have into enough, and more.

It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.

It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing.

~Melody Beattie

Gratitude turns problems into gifts. When you realize that all the things that happen in your life are leading you to where you are meant to be, the problems and obstacles that crop up seem like gifts that prevent you from landing in the wrong place and keep you on the track toward the life you were meant to have. It definitely takes hindsight to see the "gift" in the event, though.

Four years ago, I thought I had found the perfect job! Everything seemed to be lining up perfectly for that job to drop in my lap. Then, one single solitary event knocked that job out of reach. At first, I was devastated. My dream job had just evaporated. I was whining to a friend, and she said, "How do you know that was your dream job? Maybe there's something better that is just meant for you around the corner...." That very day, I applied for a similar job in a different location, and although it seemed that all the cards were stacked against me being the candidate selected, by the next week, I had been offered the job! Turns out, it was one of the best moves of my career.

When I think about viewing failures as success, I think of Thomas Edison's quote:

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

Edison knew that each failure was like a successful elimination of an option. Life is like that too. When we fail, we have now narrowed down the options of what will work by one. When faced with an array of 100 options to solve a problem, and one option fails, we can celebrate and be grateful for the fact that now there are only 99 left to try!

And when I think of the unexpected leading to the perfect timing, I think of when I bought my current house. I had been offered the job (see above) and needed to move. My former house had an offer on it, but I needed a place to move to. The house I am in now had been listed $25,000 above my budget limit. I had glanced at it online but had eliminated it from my search. One Sunday morning, at a coffee shop with a friend, we decided to look to see if anything new had been listed. This house had come down in price by $25,000. I called my realtor and made an appointment to see the house. Within three weeks, I had viewed the house, made an offer, had an inspection, and settled on a closing date that worked with the closing date on the sale of my former home.

I love this house and even four years later, when I pull in the driveway, I'm so grateful that I was able to purchase it. All because of unexpected timing!