If you’re like me, you often find yourself questioning how you ended up in some pretty unfortunate situations. A favorite of mine is how I ended up in yet another situation where I spilled my coffee at the Dunkin’ drive-thru all over my favorite jeans, paired with my signature headbutt of the steering wheel. While that may seem like a silly thing to make you question every life choice that led you to that point, when you’re already having a bad day, you can’t help but wonder. Thus, the age-old question that has seemed to plague these past twenty years arises yet again: why does the universe hate me?
One explanation to all of this could obviously be because of the ring I got at the thrift store which I later found out was recycled metal from a car involved in a pretty bad accident, so I might be cursed. While slightly less Annabelle Comes Home, the second theory that might make more sense is the obvious fact that we, as a species, like to focus on the bad things. The truth is, I was having a pretty good day when that drive-thru incident occurred, yet because of that, I think back to that day as bad. The coffee didn’t even stain my jeans; there was absolutely no reason to be upset for the rest of the day, but for some reason, I couldn’t help but harp on that one moment of humiliation and frustration that took place for five minutes, despite the other eleven hours and fifty-five minutes that were pretty great as far as a Thursday could go.
I promise I’m going somewhere with all of this. Anyway, this all leads back to the aforementioned question: why does the universe hate me? Long answer short: it doesn’t. Sometimes, it’s just easier to focus on the negative because those feelings hit you stronger and harder in the moment, which makes remembering them a whole lot easier. Therefore, when you try to think of positive moments, your brain just becomes overwhelmed with the negative and you start to wonder if you’ve ever really had a happy moment.
I’ve recently taken to trying to break that negative mindset through trying to think of something good that came out of that seemingly awful moment. For example, the day at the drive-thru, I saw my best friend laugh to the point of tears and the employee felt so bad for me, she gave me a replacement coffee for free. There’s a silver lining to everything.
So next time everything seems terrible and your mind tricks you into thinking it’s the universe out to get you, think of the time your favorite professor called you a bada** in front of the whole class, or that day you saw that really cute dog in your apartment complex, or even something as simple as when you got a text that made you smile. It’s these things that make you realize how good the universe can actually be, because the truth is, the universe loves you and so do I.