Embracing The Plot Twists…
Life.
It’s an underwhelming, overwhelming, sometimes hyper-whelmed game of ups, downs, and brief moments of *wtf* thrown in for good measure.
None of us, no matter how ‘hashtag blessed’ we might appear, is getting out of this thing without a few bumps and bruises.
But that’s the point, right?
Deep down, you know that you need the bad times to recognise the good—so you can really savour them when they come, and keep them close for when the inevitable waves of negativity roll in.
You know it—yet when things get rough, it doesn’t change how it feels. It can hurt.
Y’know what makes pain worse? Fighting it.
In psychology, there's something called the "pain paradox"—the harder we try to resist or avoid pain, the more intense it can feel. Research suggests that our expectation of how life should go often leads to more frustration when reality doesn’t meet it. This disconnect can make pain linger longer than it needs to. Accepting the curveballs life throws at us can actually make them easier to manage, rather than bracing for or resisting every hit.
That’s where The Plotline® comes in.
When something bad happens, instead of spiralling, you embrace it as a ‘plot twist’. Think about it—ever get a flat tyre on the way to an event and feel like it’s a total disaster? But then, somehow, you meet someone at the tyre shop who completely changes your day—or maybe your life. Annoying? For sure. But that unexpected detour enriches your story. It’s what adds texture and meaning, making your life more interesting and full of depth.
Every time you do The Plotline© you're getting a little bit better at identifying those plot twists that are put there to try to throw you off your game.
Eventually you start to see them as opportunities to level up (in the old days they called it 'character building'), so you might as well give them a starring role.