I jumped out of bed at 4 A.M. with a massive urge to piss. On my way to the bathroom I grabbed the protein bar I had sitting on my dresser and started eating it.
I stood in front of the toilet emptying my bladder while I ate my delicious chocolate Power Crunch bar. I could barely keep my eyes open. As I took my third bite of the bar it cracked in my hand and the majority of it fell into the toilet with the wrapper attached. I continued to piss on my bar while my brain tried to make sense of what had just occurred.
I came to enough to realize that I had a little bit of an issue. I couldn’t flush the rest of the bar with the wrapper. I needed to reach into the toilet bowl full of my own piss and pick the bar out and throw it away. It wasn’t the most appealing activity to perform at any time of the day, much less at four in the morning. I put my hand into the bowel, grabbed the bar and threw it out.
A couple of things went through my head at that very moment. First, I was a little bummed that I couldn’t finish my bar because they taste amazing. Second, I just put my hand in piss to fish this bar out of the toilet; that’s gross.
At times I ruminate over little disappointments like these. I allow them to ruin my mood and possibly keep me up for hours. But my mind quickly shifted to the fact that I wanted another bar I have a cabinet full of them. I can easily wash the piss off my hands with a little soap and water.
Why do I bother to write this story you may ask? Well, because I had this experience a couple of hours ago and I didn’t lose my mind or break my toilet in the process. That may not seem like much to some people but to me it’s pretty fucking amazing.
So often the trivial setbacks life throws at me have had so much power over my actions and attitude. I have allowed the tiniest misfortunes to snowball and turn into much larger problems.
I had a counselor in rehab once tell me, “Its not the big dogs you have to worry about, you know how to deal with them. Its the little dogs jumping up to bite your nuts that always get in your way.” He was absolutely right. Its ridiculous when I think about the hardships I have endured and been able to move forward; yet something like dropping a protein bar in the toilet could ruin my day.
This analogy may be a stretch for some people. But when your mindset is one of abundance you automatically become cognizant that small setbacks and disappointments don’t need to take you off your path and eat up your time. Learn from your mistakes. Change your approach next time to make sure the same results don’t ensue.
When one opportunity falls through you have 4-5 more on the shelf that you can run with. You just have to go to the sink, wash the piss of your hands and grab another protein bar from the cabinet.