Blogger: Shirley Leong

EVERYTHING IS SMALL STUFF

I had a car accident. Unexpectedly a four-car chain accident happened at Jalan Tun Razak, and I found myself sandwiched in the middle. My car was the third, and the car at my back hit me hard. My Wira was the most vulnerable of the four – the front bit was seriously damaged and completely out of shape, and the bumper at the back had nearly dropped to the ground.

Annoyance, frustration and relentless overwhelmed me at once. Amazingly, I was still able to remain cool and chatty.

Unpleasant things can happen anytime and anywhere, and most of the time it’s out of the blue. Crappy moments like being screwed up in office as your boss is in a bad mood; falling down with your most sexy dress on; rushing to an appointment that has been canceled though no one informed you… every week (if not every day) there is something that gets on your nerves/that gets to you, regardless if serious or trivial, without fail.

Literally you have two choices – let your emotions be controlled by the surroundings, or you can see it from the other perspective, your bad day is just one of those days.

Personally I do not believe in a hassle-free life every single day. You can be in a happy mood most of your days, but it would not be sensible only to have good days and no bad days. Going through tough situations and bitterness in life will make you stronger and appreciate each moment more. Comparison and contradiction give you different pictures and windows in life so that you will then be able to differentiate bitter and sweet, heartache and joy, disappointment and hope.

Life is inevitable “yin” and “yang” – even though both of them are two extremes, they also complement each other. Therefore, you have to learn to accept the realities and facts that happen in our lives – be it an exciting day or one of those crappy days.

Stephen Covey said you can choose your response towards the stimuli or environment surround you. You choose what to and how to response, as all of us have “response-ability”.

No matter how shitty your day, or if all the bad things keep happening one by one, just think if all these things will matter two years later? Will they still be important? If none of them is, then they are all just small matters that don’t have any significance in your entire life. Richard Carlson’s bestseller says, Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff… And it’s All Small Stuff.

A car accident, does it matter anymore after two years? What the heck, I got to spend a thousand or two, my car is stuck in the workshop, I have no money for shopping for three months… these are all just small matters.