# What is the first thing you do when Life deals you a big blow? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 24, 2008, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-do-when-life-deals-you-a-big-blow/457632 "2008-07-24T16:44:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-do-when-life-deals-you-a-big-blow/457632/41 "2008-07-25T20:47:38Z")
Lot’s of drinking going on here. 😃 Oh do I remember those days… I certainly don’t miss the hangovers [sup]and a plethora of other things…[/sup]! But I certainly spent a long time exploring with my buddies, sapphire and tonic. They were with me through thick and thin! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-do-when-life-deals-you-a-big-blow/457632/42 "2008-07-25T20:56:31Z")
Bottle it up and worry about it later, doing what needs to be done in the meantime. Then months later I’ll have a meltdown. It’s worked well for me so far. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-do-when-life-deals-you-a-big-blow/457632/43 "2008-07-25T22:03:35Z")
Zip up. Seriously… probably a drink at first. Brood probably. It depends on the blow – I’ve been dealt some humiliating ones in the past, those are the worst – betrayal of trust, especially sudden and unexpectedly, is very hard. Not achieving a goal is merely discouraging, but I’d just try again if that were still an option; most successes are 1 part luck & talent to 10 parts tenacity. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-do-when-life-deals-you-a-big-blow/457632/44 "2008-07-25T22:48:49Z")
::tries to think up inappropriate blow job joke:: ::fails:: ---
**Author:** ![threnodyangelfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@threnodyangelfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threnodyangelfire)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-do-when-life-deals-you-a-big-blow/457632/45 "2008-07-26T05:59:12Z")
Haha funny you should ask this. I have considered pitting my last 2 weeks, so here goes… In the last fortnight my best friend’s son died and I lost my job the day before his funeral along with a quarter of my company. It was like two massive blows to the stomach that left me emotionally drained and still very tired. I never thought anything would hurt quite as much as helping your friend say goodbye to her son. It’s draining and so so so sad. How did I get through it? I’m very much a person who thinks in terms of “next steps”. The next step to move to is x,y,z. I made sure that I was available for my friend any time that she and her husband needed me, whether it was to go around and just chat, or take her youngest son for an outing etc. The other thing I did was begin to send my resume out. Six days after I was retrenched I secured a new job, yay. Nothing will bring Michael back. He was a wonderful boy on the verge of becoming an amazing man, but we can do what we can to be able to move on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-do-when-life-deals-you-a-big-blow/457632.md?page=2)