Why Do Bad Things Always Happen To Me?!

Remember that this moment is not your life, it's just a moment in your life. Focus on what is in front of you, right now. Ignore what it 'represents' or it 'means' or 'why it happened to you.' 

- The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday

Do you ever catch yourself ruminating on why bad things happen to you? It started out as a simple mistake, then you keep thinking about it. Thinking of how worst it could have been. How it would ruin your future. What it means in your life.

You could have worked really hard for your exams, but you didn't get the results you wanted. 

You asked yourself, "Why is it that when i work hard i don't get good results? Does it mean that I am stupid? It could be my parents are stupid, or the teacher wasn't good enough. Maybe i was too lazy. I will never be able to do well academically. Maybe i should just start working early instead..."

That is normally how we think isn't it? When something bad happens to us, the first thing we do is we start thinking obsessively of our mistake. Figuring out the never-ending causes. Figuring out what are the implications in the present and the future. Figuring out what it means to you. You can almost do a thesis on "why bad things always happen to me?" at this point.

Recently, I was pretty stressed up. I was stuck with writers block and i was worrying about my uni applications. So i ended up reading books on how to overcome problems in life. Then i came across this quote that perfectly explains our tendency to obsess over our mistakes. The quote provided a good reminder that the only way to overcome our problems is to think of ways to solve it, not harp on the irrelevant meanings that doesn't help you solve the problem.