Why Losing my Sunglasses Was a Win

A few weeks ago, I lost a pair of sunglasses at a church building I rarely visit. I don't expect to ever get those sunglasses back, but that's not a huge loss. In fact, as I told a friend earlier today, that was actually a win.

You see, I know that somebody, someday, is going to find my sunglasses. When they do, either they'll keep the sunglasses, and thus get a free pair of sunglasses, which I count as a win, or they'll put the sunglasses into the lost and found. No one will claim the sunglasses from the lost and found, because they all know that they're not the ones that lost it. Thus, a little part of me will be a part of that church building for a very long time, which I also count as a win. So, really, losing my sunglasses at that church building was a win for me, no matter what happens to the glasses. Plus, the sunglasses proved to be cheap to replace, so, again, it wasn't a huge loss anyway.

My friend said something about this scenario only being a "win" for me because I had a winning attitude, but I'll accept that as a win as well. Having a good attitude and being able to see the bright side of things has helped me to get through some rough times. Notably, once when I found an instructor (understandably) somewhat difficult to work with, I remarked to myself that, if this instructor had been one of the other instructors I had learned from in past semesters, they might have been more willing to work with me. This meant that I knew kind people who knew me to be a good person, which is definitely a win. So, even though things weren't going well for me with this particular person, I was comforted in knowing that there were many other instructors at that campus that I could consider friends.

When bad things happen, it can be hard to look for the good in it. Of course, there are much greater tragedies in the world than losing sunglasses and knowing people who are (with good reason) inflexible. With the greater tragedies of life, it can be harder to see the silver lining, but I believe that there always is one. There is some good in everything, we just have to look for it. And if we can find the good in the bad things that happen, if we have that winning attitude, we can turn any loss into a win.