5 Negative, No Good Things You Should Go Through In Life...

Do you watch Meet the Press on Sunday mornings?

If you do, you probably remember that it used to be hosted by David Gregory.

You probably also remember that he got fired…(well, he says he didn’t get fired, but I have a feeling he kind of got fired…or was going to and decided to leave first.)

Whichever the case, according to an interview he gave recently on Book TV, he said this time in his life was incredibly difficult…

That his getting fired from/leaving NBC was his first-ever career setback – which, at age 45, is a bit late, in my humble opinion, to have his first-ever career setback.

I guess you could say he’s lucky, right?

Maybe.

But I would argue that maybe he isn’t so lucky.

That maybe this career setback was more difficult for him to handle because he hadn’t had the opportunity yet to develop the kind of coping skills that only come from experiencing setbacks.

5 Terrible, Horrible, Negative, No Good Things You Should Go Through At Least Once In Your Life

Perhaps not surprisingly, these negative things, such as a career setback, aren’t fun, but they serve a very important purpose in our lives.

Not only do they give us important coping skills, but they often teach us how to be – and act – better.

Here are five other negative, not so great things I think you should go through at least once in your life…if you want to be your best self, that is.

1 | An Exclusion

You should feel excluded by others at least once in your life. It’s the only way you truly understand how it feels and begin to act more inclusive toward others.

And, remember, just because you’re not doing anything to exclude someone doesn’t mean you’re doing anything to include someone. {<< Tweet this!}

There’s a difference…(a big one).

2 | A Rejection

I wish each one of us could always get what we wanted in life. After all, most of us are probably really good people who deserve to get everything we what we want in life.

But, that’s not how life works. We do sometimes get rejected, even after trying our hardest.

A rejection can feel crushing, but it gives us stamina. After going through one or more of them, we learn we can survive rejection – which gives us the courage to risk and to try more.

Frank Bruni, in his New York Times column, How to Survive the College Admissions Madness, does a beautiful job demonstrating the power of rejection if we don’t let ourselves get defeated by it.

(Psst…I would encourage you to read it even though you’re probably not in college anymore – it has tremendous wisdom for people of all ages.)

3 | A Failure

Let’s be honest, failures suck. (Just ask David Gregory…)

But, still, I think everyone should fail at something at least once in their life. Failures too give us incredible stamina and resilience as well as solid coping skills like little else can.

And failures (and their close cousin, adversity) give us invaluable lessons. They force us to reflect on what worked and what didn’t. And they encourage us to make changes until we get it right.

Sometimes failures push us toward something far greater than the thing at which we failed!

4 | A Favor Snub

Have you ever asked someone for help and they either never got back to you or turned you down? This is what I call a favor snub, and I think everyone should experience at least one of them.

It’s the only way you really know how disappointing it feels and begin to provide help when asked – despite how busy you are.

Remember, help others because, one day, you’re going to want others to help you!

5 | Unmet Expectations

How about this? Have you ever expected something from someone else and he/she let you down? Or expected something of a situation that didn’t turn out how you would have liked?

If you’re human, you probably have at least once in your life – and probably more than once. And you’ve probably also felt disappointed. Again, more than once…

And this is a good thing. Yes, a good thing because, hopefully, you’re learning, after experiencing this time after time, that the best kind of expectations to have are no expectations – or, at least, lower ones.

As the Buddhist teaching goes, “Pain in life comes from unfulfilled desires and expectations.”

When we can learn to abandon or lower our expectations, both our lives and our relationships improve. {<< Tweet this!}

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So, I didn’t write this post to wish bad things on you or to say that bad things are good – only to show that there can be merit and purpose to the bad things that happen to us.

And that if we can learn to appreciate these negative, not so great things and the purpose they serve, we will be victorious over the inevitable challenges that life throws us.

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To seeing the good,