I’m sitting in a middle school assembly in Columbus Ohio (social distancing 12′ in this large auditorium) and up pops a quote on the big screen up front:

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”

I had to think about it for a second, and couldn’t help but jot it down because it so relates to how we handle our UNcomfort zones. And I love when teachers, in this case the Headmaster, interject a little ‘life coaching’ into a day full of academics and sports.

The phrase, “the way things turn out”, is kinda odd. Sometimes we’re responsible for how things turn out, and sometimes we have no control at all. Hmmm. . . . very similar to our UNcomfort zones . . . sometimes we choose to enter them, and other times we’re thrown in head first without warning.

In this case, none of us chose or even predicted the pandemic. And it’s certainly no walk in the park. Some of us have been dealt a horrible, gut wrenching hand where things have turned out to be fatal or totally life changing. And some of us are taking each day as it comes, mitigating risk as best we can, working from home, not really knowing at all how things will turn out.

Making the best of things is a way to exert your control.

But “making the best of the way things turn out” is the one thing we can control. It doesn’t mean we’re going to make it go away, or fix it. It just means we’ll intentionally do something . . . anything . . . to make it seem better or take advantage of any positive aspect.

I think it’s kinda like when you make a new recipe, and it doesn’t turn out to taste the way you expected (I have a ton of experience here). And actually, you wish you could throw it in the garbage. So you add a dash of this, and a pinch of that, and manage to eat it.

Some of us will totally dismiss ‘the way it turned out’, and move on. Others will take a minute to think about it, and may discover what can be learned. And all you ‘over achievers’ who reeeeally like to make lemonade out of lemons will translate your crummy meal as a full blown ‘opportunity’!

Maybe you’ll teach others what went wrong with your recipe and how to make it better.

You may discover you don’t like cooking after-all, and take up piano lessons instead.

Or, you may turn your kitchen into a workshop to refinish furniture.

Granted, it’s not over til the fat lady sings, so we really don’t know how this pandemic will turn out for each of us. But I’m a fan of turning lemons into lemonade when I can.

Be careful what you wish for.

So, I’m going to continue my slow walk down Pandemic Parkway, while reminding myself of something I wished for (more than a few times) while I was raising kids, supporting a family, and feeling like I was on a gerbil wheel. “Please God, can I just have a week at home and not have to go anywhere?”

Of course, I never prayed for all my kids to be there with me for distance learning, nor did I wish for masks, job loss, or tragic illness.

But, one thing is for sure, there hasn’t been a day during this mess when I haven’t made the best of ‘how things turned out’ in 2020.

I’ve learned to listen to the noise of quiet.

I’ve learned all kinds of new tech stuff I’d never planned (and didn’t know existed).

I’ve connected with people on Zoom I wouldn’t have otherwise visited.

And I’ve stopped watching the news everyday.

The biggest bonus so far has come from going back to teaching 3 days a week, in a basement-turned-classroom, fully outfitted with a Pete-the-Cat calendar, number charts, and cursive letter strips. It was my way of intentionally doing what I could to help some parents in need, so I stepped up to the plate.

Enjoy every sip of your lemonade.

My reward (besides some extra $) is the delicious taste of the lemonade from these pandemic lemons. And this time the recipe turned out so well because it comes with . . .

. . . . constant thank you’s and appreciation.

. . . . an everlasting bond with a few granbabies I could never have gotten any other way.

. . . . reminders of what I love most about teaching.

All these unpredicted gifts and bonuses are surely the result of “making the best of the way things turned out”.

Hope you’ve been able to do the same. . . Would love to hear about it! ♥