Sooner or later life will hit you with a curveball. Why? because it’s good like that! There you are minding your own business and going about your day and WHAM! Out of nowhere, something comes up that messes everything up.
Do any of these sound familiar?
🟪 You’re running late for work, and you spill coffee all over yourself.
🟪 The fridge freezer goes on the blink just after you’ve filled it with food for the week.
🟪The central heating boiler breaks down in mid-shower.
🟪 Your cat knocks over the plants, just after you’ve done the vacuuming.
If you are saying yes to any of them, welcome to the curveball club! It’s filled with people like you and me, who have had curveballs launched at them at the most inconvenient of times. These curveballs aren’t disastrous or earth-shattering, however, they can feel that way.
If you’ve seen the Harry Potter films, Neville always seems to get the lion share of curveballs. To the point, he asks, “Why is it always me?” Is this you too?
Life doesn’t have it in for you, there’s no bad karmic debt that you have to pay off in this lifetime nor is it the Law of Attraction at play. So, while it feels like it’s always you and you must have done something to attract it, you haven’t. It’s simply life! Nothing more, nothing less!
One thing I’ve learned is that you can’t expect everything to go the way you planned. For me, I’ve had all sorts of things planned – days out, nights out, business events – and some have passed off without a hitch others not so much. Whether it’s been a sudden change in weather or a website misbehaving, it’s just life being life and it rarely does exactly what you expect it to.
More often than not, when you find yourself there, the conditioned response is to become self-critical, blaming yourself and having a good old ‘woe is me’ pity party. I get that, I’ve responded in exactly the same way.
But that doesn’t help. It creates an opportunity for your inner bitch to have a good old nag at how you are worthless and no good at anything. Once in that place, you will be focused on all the stuff that’s gone wrong in your life and the more you do, the more things will seem to keep going wrong.
Wait a minute, didn’t you just say, it’s not the Law of Attraction? I did, what is happening is, your subconscious that deals with a tonne of info coming in at any given time will start to pick out ‘evidence’ to confirm what you are telling yourself. So, whilst the reality is, it’s just life and nothing you’ve done or deserved because you are wallowing, all reason goes out the window.
So, how do you deal with and move on when you find yourself at the receiving end of a curveball?
3 ways to deal with curveballs
Life loves a curveball and will hit you with one whenever it feels like it. Rather than getting into a funk and blaming yourself, doing these 3 things will help you deal with them.
#1 Acknowledge that curveballs can and do happen
As creatures of habit, we like things to be just so – Alarm goes off, get up have a shower, go to work. Having that routine makes us feel safe and in control, so when that curveball comes in, all of that disappears. It’s at that point, how you react is key.
You can choose to react in a way that leaves you feeling stressed, anxious, and beating yourself up, or you can choose to think “well that happened,” deal with whatever it was, and rework your day accordingly.
Accepting what has happened, gives you room to breathe, and to think. Your usual automatic response of flinging your hands up in the air and catastrophising doesn’t happen. Instead, you remain calm, focused on what needs to be done and then continue with rest of the day.
#2 Create a daily habit of ‘me-time’
In the day-to-day hustle of life, it’s easy to put yourself last. You might not think you are but if you are always doing the next job on the list and saying yes to the next person who needs something done, then you are.
Constantly doing that will deplete your energy and make you feel you have no time for anything. So, when that curveball hits, you become more stressed and feel life has it in for you.
So, how do you add that ‘me-time’ into your day? Set the intention of ‘Just For Today I will….’ Then add what you want to do, so is it a 5 minute walk around the garden? A 20 minute sit down with a Latte and no phone?
Whatever you choose, ensure it is easy and doable. It might be, some days it is only 5 minutes, other days it could be 15 minutes. It doesn’t matter how long or how short, the important part to remember here is not only will it prevent burnout, but it will also give you the energy both mentally and physically to deal with whatever life throws at you.
#3 Let it Go
One of the things we are really good at is replaying what happened over and over, trying to figure out why it happened or wishing you’d reacted differently. Yes, it would be great if we could, but time travel isn’t a thing yet!
The constant replay only serves to make you feel more stressed, more anxious and it could have an effect on your health because your brain doesn’t know what is past or present. Every time you revisit that curveball to analyse the hell out of it, your brain thinks “oops, I need to prepare the body for this” and floods your body with all the fuel it needs to respond.
Acknowledge it happened, accept there is nothing you can do differently and let it go. Do something to take your mind off it, maybe chat with a friend, or go for a walk. You will feel better for it, and more able to get on with the rest of the day.
Curveballs are a part of life. They come at you from nowhere and can knock you flat. But they are only a blip an experience to be had.
Once you’ve experienced one and dealt with it, the next won’t be as stressful. You will be able to say, “well that happened,” sort it out and continue with the rest of your day. Even better, you’ve gone from feeling life has it in for you, to knowing that you can get whatever needs to be done, no matter what.
How to love who you are Masterclass & Workbook
One of the hardest things to do is to show ourselves love. All too often, we treat ourselves really badly and end up feeling exhausted, with little or no confidence as we listen to the inner bitch, stay in unhealthy relationships and self-confirm feelings of being not enough, or deserving of a better, happier life.
Whatever your reasons for not showing yourself love, it’s time to start changing how you think and treat yourself. It’s time to show yourself the same love, you show others. Download my FREE Masterclass & Workbook to start your journey to a happier, confident you.
Fancy seeing you here! A big hello and a warm welcome if this is your first time here! I’m Sophie Paige, the lady (some say that’s debatable! 🤣) behind Raar HQ. Having lived most of my life being told I was worthless, useless, and would never be anything, I am on a mission, not to prove them wrong, but to show as many women as I can that they can break free from that and become this unstoppable force with a fierce fire, who allocates her fucks to the shit that matters.
There are stacks more to be found about how I can help and support you on the site, so have a wee nosy! You can get to know more ‘about me’ on the about page too! Don’t forget you can also find me on Social Media sharing the latest news from Raar HQ, hints, tips, help, and support that makes changing your story feel possible and that it’s not a hard slog or about making you all happy-clappy 🙄 It’s little steps leading you to a life filled with possibilities, hope, ups downs & everything in between!