One of my mottoes is “se hace lo que se puede con los materiales disponibles,” “we do what we can with whatever’s at hand.” It means that I never do less than I can, but also that it’s important to realize when you can’t do more; expecting miracles of either myself or others is unreasonable.
I try to be reasonable.
As for emergencies, I’m usually good in one. And as for things along the lines of “we can’t go on with this project unless we can get finance to align, but they’re digging in their heels and it will be impossible to turn them around”, often I can trot out my second motto after one: “what is that ‘impossible’ you were speaking of?” What can I say, I like a challenge so long as it’s something I can do (“I bet you 5 bucks you can’t become an NBA player” is not an acceptable challenge).
I’m going through a difficult time right now in this economy. I know deep down that I’ll come out OK in the end. I may not always get what I want, but I do get what I need (yeah, the Rolling Stones song)…
I try to do as much as I can that is within my control. The rest has to go to god and the universe.
I also do my share of crying, eating comforting food, going to friends, withdrawing and watching mindless TV. It’s not a time when I feel like drawing, but if I can get myself settled to do that, it’s the best therapy. A pencil in hand, drawing on paper…
A little book I have called “Answered Prayers” by Julia Cameron helps too. The first paragraph of the message I read today:
You brood over your problems. You hoard them like treasures. Like a sore tooth, a problem is a secret pleasure. You use your negativity to prove there is no God worth dealing with. Open your heart. Your problems are not the whole world. Your problems are not even your whole world. Bring me your troubles. Let me establish for you a sense of perspective…
Adversity means things aren’t going well, which probably means you’re losing more often than you’re winning. As such the rational choice is to give up.