When It All Goes Wrong

The impact of little disappointments can be much larger to those of us who experience them then to those who see what we are going through.

Monday I took the day off. Well for the most part. I answered a few work emails and made a work related phone call but for the most part I just took the time to relax. In the course of the day however I received some bad news, found out a debt I thought was sorted out still needed some sorting and had a few plans fall through.

Heading for home I decided to stop by Starbucks and get a bagel and maybe a cookie. It was late in the day and about the only thing in the pastry case that was not sweet where the croissants. Now croissants are great for a breakfast sandwich, but they are not the best delivery system for cream cheese, which was the real impetus behind the bagel.

Any way I bought the croissant and got the cream cheese. I was feeling let down, but what the heck, that is life. Then when I stopped to have a bite of my snack, I realized that they had forgotten to give me a knife.

A little thing. A very little thing. But it was enough to break down my optimism and courage, to rattle me enough to let the weight of the day's other disappointments come crashing in.

That is how it works. It is not the little thing itself but rather the feeling that if even the little things can’t go right, what hope is there for the big things?

But when this happens the best defense against despair is also the little things. Find the solutions that make them work. These small let downs once fixed are the building blocks for the bigger successes.

So as I walked home I used the nicely curved croissant to scoop the cream cheese out of the little tub.