Attitude is Everything

As I've been reading about Stoicism and observing life in general, I'm coming to realize that one's attitude is everything. Our attitudes flavor our experiences by influencing how we interpret what happens and how we ultimately end up feeling about the situation.

Case in point, I recently played a board game with my family and I got frustrated because I was determined to accomplish a specific game objective, and my efforts kept getting frustrated. Now, I could have taken that situation is stride. It was just a game. It didn't matter. It might even seem funny to me once enough time has passed. Yet, in the moment, I allowed my emotions to be negatively affected by the outcome of the game. As my efforts were being frustrated, I allowed myself to become frustrated as well. 

Fortunately, the game ended before I did anything I would later regret, so I suppose this situation isn't worth worrying about, but it is still worth learning from. I came at the game with a certain attitude, including a strong desire to accomplish my game objectives, and that affected how I emotionally responded to how the game played out. Perhaps if I had had a more flexible, resilient, and frankly Stoic attitude, I could have responded to my misfortune with a greater level of grace. That's something I should work on, and I think it's a lesson many other people could stand to learn as well.

All of us occasionally face unfortunate circumstances, but our attitudes can help us determine whether those circumstances are ultimately good or bad, funny or frustrating, trivial or troublesome.

I came at a game with a less-than-positive attitude recently, and it was an unpleasant experience. I hope that I and others can learn from my mistake.