It Could Be Worse: Learning to Keep Life’s Frustrations in Perspective
It Could Be Worse: Learning to Keep Life’s Frustrations in Perspective
By Angel, Founder of AMC Rise and Thrive
🌅 Welcome,
My Beautiful Friends
First, let me apologize because this post is a little late. 🤍
I was supposed to sit down and write it earlier, but I got
distracted.
And by distracted, I mean the Modern Warfare 4 beta was
available this weekend, and I really wanted to see what the new game was going
to be like before deciding whether I wanted to buy it.
Priorities, right? 😂
Sometimes life is deeply spiritual. Sometimes we are praying,
reflecting, healing old wounds, and trying to understand what God is teaching
us.
And sometimes we are sitting in front of a screen trying to
get the best play of the game.
Both can apparently exist in the same life.
So, grab your coffee, tea, water, or whatever you have nearby,
because today's conversation came from one of those ordinary weekends that
somehow ended up giving me something much bigger to think about.
And it all started with a video game, a Mexican blanket, and a
ceiling fan.
Yes, you read that correctly. 😂
💛 Sometimes
We Just Need a Little Escape
I really enjoy playing these games.
And I'm pretty good.
I'm not going to lie—when I get the best play of the game, it
makes me feel good. Especially because I'm pretty sure I'm playing against a
bunch of dudes. 😂
There's something satisfying about seeing that replay and
thinking, Yep. That was me.
But beyond the competition, gaming gives me something else.
A little escape.
Not necessarily escaping because life is terrible, but
stepping outside of everyday responsibilities for a while.
Most of us have something like that.
Maybe you watch a show.
Maybe you garden.
Maybe you read.
Maybe you crochet, paint, bake, scroll through videos, work on
puzzles, listen to music, take long drives, or disappear into a book for a
couple of hours.
Sometimes our minds simply need somewhere else to go.
We spend so much of our lives solving problems.
What needs to be paid?
What needs to be cleaned?
Who needs something?
What appointment is coming up?
What broke?
What needs replacing?
What haven't I finished yet?
Our minds are constantly processing the next responsibility.
So occasionally doing something simply because it makes us
happy isn't wasted time.
Sometimes it's how we breathe.
The problem comes when we convince ourselves that every moment
must be productive to have value.
Rest doesn't always look like lying perfectly still in a
peaceful room surrounded by candles.
Sometimes rest looks like laughing.
Sometimes it looks like playing.
Sometimes it looks like doing something completely unnecessary
simply because you enjoy it.
And maybe we need to give ourselves permission for that
occasionally. 🌿
Because life already gives us enough things we have to
do.
We need a few things we simply want to do too.
🌱 Why
Little Things Can Feel So Big
Here's something I've noticed about life.
Sometimes it isn't the enormous problems that get under our
skin.
It's the little things.
You spill something.
You lose your keys.
The internet stops working.
Something you use every day suddenly breaks.
You realize you forgot something at the store after you've
already come home.
And suddenly you're standing there thinking,
Seriously?
Today?
I did not need this today.
The frustration isn't always about the thing itself.
It's often about accumulation.
We're already carrying responsibilities, worries, deadlines,
bills, family concerns, unfinished tasks, and a hundred little thoughts nobody
else can see.
Then one more inconvenience arrives.
And sometimes that tiny inconvenience becomes the final drop
in an already full cup.
That's why telling someone, "It's not a big deal,"
isn't always helpful.
Maybe the spilled coffee isn't a big deal.
Maybe the broken appliance isn't a big deal.
Maybe the traffic isn't a big deal.
But we don't always know what someone was carrying before that
happened.
Our emotions don't exist in isolation.
They travel with everything else we're holding.
But I've also learned that there is a difference between acknowledging
frustration and surrendering the entire day to it.
Something can be irritating without becoming catastrophic.
Something can go wrong without everything being wrong.
We can say,
"Well, that sucks."
And then decide what comes next.
That tiny space between what happened and how we
respond can change the entire direction of our day.
I got an unexpected reminder of that while making my bed.
🌿 The
Ceiling Fan Incident
My husband and I have very different ideas about what
temperature qualifies as comfortable.
If I'm comfortable, he's hot.
If he's comfortable, I'm cold.
There seems to be no diplomatic solution to this situation. 😂
So, I sleep with several blankets.
And I love those heavy Mexican blankets.
If you have one, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
Those things aren't playing around. They're warm, thick, heavy, and wonderful.
Well, I was making the bed and flipped one of the blankets up.
It caught the ceiling fan.
And somehow it snapped one of the fan arms.
Literally snapped it.
I just stood there looking at it.
I wasn't even angry.
I was more in disbelief.
Did that really just happen?
I bought that fan back in 2017, so naturally finding
replacement parts isn't exactly easy.
And here's another thing about me: I'm picky when it comes to
accessories and décor for my house.
Very picky.
Styles have changed considerably since I bought that fan, too.
I had to replace the fan in my son's room a couple of years
ago, and it took me more than a week to find one I liked.
So, when I looked at that broken fan arm, I knew this wasn't
simply,
"Oh, I'll buy another fan."
No.
This was going to become a mission.
I'm going to look at fifty ceiling fans.
I'm going to eliminate forty-eight of them.
I'm going to stare at the remaining two like I'm making a
life-changing decision.
Then I'll probably decide I don't like either one. 😂
And yet, standing there looking at that broken fan, I didn't
get angry.
It happened.
I couldn't un-break it.
Getting mad wasn't going to put the fan arm back together.
Blaming myself wasn't going to rewind the blanket through the
air.
So eventually my thinking became,
Well...I guess I'm getting a new ceiling fan.
Was it annoying?
Absolutely.
Was it what I planned to do?
Nope.
But sometimes something happens and there isn't a deeper
explanation.
Something simply broke.
And now you deal with what comes next.
That sounds almost too simple, but I think there is wisdom in
it.
Not everything deserves our emotional energy.
✨ Then
Perspective Walked In
Later that afternoon, we left the house.
Nothing unusual.
Nothing dramatic.
We were gone maybe an hour and a half.
When we came back into the neighborhood, we saw a house near
the bottom of our street severely damaged by fire.
And what struck me immediately was that the house had the
exact same design as ours.
Suddenly I wasn't thinking about my ceiling fan.
I was looking at someone's home.
A place where people woke up that morning probably expecting
an ordinary day.
Maybe they made breakfast.
Maybe someone left dishes in the sink.
Maybe laundry was sitting somewhere waiting to be folded.
Maybe they had plans for later.
Maybe they left the house expecting to come back and continue
their day exactly where they left off.
And within the same hour and a half that I was simply away
from my neighborhood, a family's life had changed.
Their home had been severely damaged.
I don't know everything that happened to that family, and I
wouldn't pretend to understand what they were feeling.
But seeing that house did something to my perspective.
Earlier, something in my home had broken.
Now I was looking at someone whose home had been devastated.
That's different.
And I think life occasionally gives us moments like this—not
so we feel guilty for being frustrated about our own problems, but so we
remember scale.
A broken fan can still be annoying.
A stressful morning can still be stressful.
A disappointing situation can still hurt.
Perspective doesn't require us to pretend something doesn't
bother us.
It simply reminds us not to turn every inconvenience into a
tragedy.
There is a difference.
✨ Gratitude
Isn't Pretending Everything Is Wonderful
I say this often:
It could be worse.
And I know sometimes people don't like that phrase because it
can sound dismissive.
There will always be someone facing something harder than we
are.
That doesn't automatically erase our pain.
If you're grieving, you're grieving.
If your heart is broken, it hurts.
If you're exhausted, you're exhausted.
If you're struggling financially, emotionally, spiritually, or
physically, those experiences matter.
We don't have to compare suffering to decide whether we're
allowed to feel something.
But perspective can keep temporary frustration from taking
over our entire emotional landscape.
That's where gratitude becomes powerful.
Gratitude isn't saying,
"Nothing is wrong."
It's saying,
"Something is wrong, but not everything is
wrong."
That's completely different.
Maybe the car needs repairs, but you got home safely.
Maybe the day was exhausting, but you have somewhere to rest
tonight.
Maybe dinner didn't turn out right, but there is food
available.
Maybe something in the house broke, but the house is still
standing.
Maybe you spilled water all over the counter.
Well...
At least it wasn't pee. 😂
You know I had to say it.
Sometimes that is genuinely the bright side.
There are moments when gratitude is beautiful and poetic.
And then there are moments when gratitude is simply:
"Well, that could have been much worse."
Both count.
✨ What
If the Pause Is the Lesson?
We often imagine spiritual growth happening during enormous,
sacred moments.
A breakthrough.
A powerful prayer.
A life-changing realization.
A moment when we clearly feel God's presence.
But I think some of our deepest growth happens in much quieter
places.
Like the three seconds after something goes wrong.
Something breaks.
Someone irritates you.
Plans change.
You receive disappointing news.
You make a mistake.
And there is this tiny pause before your reaction fully forms.
What if that pause is part of our spiritual practice?
What if growth sometimes looks like realizing,
I don't have to react the way I used to.
Maybe once you would have exploded.
Now you sigh.
Maybe once you would have spent hours replaying what happened.
Now you deal with it and move forward.
Maybe once one inconvenience would have convinced you the
entire day was ruined.
Now you recognize that it was simply one bad moment inside a
much larger day.
That is growth too.
God doesn't only meet us in churches, prayers, and quiet
meditation.
He can meet us in kitchens.
Bedrooms.
Traffic jams.
Grocery store lines.
Unexpected bills.
Broken ceiling fans.
And moments when we drive past a burned home and suddenly
remember just how fragile ordinary life can be.
What if some interruptions are invitations to notice what is
still standing?
What if gratitude isn't something we practice only when life
feels good?
What if it becomes the way we keep our hearts anchored when
life becomes inconvenient?
And what if peace isn't the absence of frustrating things—but
the ability to experience frustration without allowing it to own us?
🚶 Choose
What Deserves Your Energy
We cannot control everything that happens.
But we can become more intentional about what receives our
energy.
When something goes wrong, try asking yourself:
Can I change this?
If yes, decide what action needs to happen.
Can I fix this right now?
If yes, fix what you can.
If I can't change it right now, will worrying
about it improve anything?
Usually, the answer is no.
That doesn't mean becoming emotionally numb.
It means becoming emotionally wise.
There is a difference between feeling something and feeding
it.
You can feel frustrated without feeding frustration for the
next six hours.
You can feel disappointed without creating ten imaginary
disasters that haven't happened.
You can acknowledge that something went wrong without
declaring the whole day ruined.
Sometimes moving forward sounds surprisingly ordinary:
Okay. That happened.
What do I need to do next?
Maybe you clean the mess.
Make the phone call.
Replace the broken thing.
Change the plan.
Ask for help.
Say a prayer.
Take five minutes.
Or simply accept that today didn't go exactly the way you
wanted.
There is tremendous freedom in learning that every
inconvenience does not require an emotional emergency.
Protect your peace.
Not by avoiding life, but by learning which moments deserve
your full emotional attention and which ones deserve a shrug, a prayer, and the
next step.
❤️ A
Gentle Reflection
Before you move on with your day, spend a quiet moment
thinking about these questions:
🌿 Have I
been allowing a relatively small frustration to feel bigger than it really is?
🌿 What is
still good in my life that I may have overlooked because something else went
wrong?
🌿 When
unexpected things happen, do I immediately react, or have I learned to give
myself a moment before responding?
🌿 What
would change if I stopped calling an entire day "bad" because of one
difficult moment?
🌿 What can
I thank God for today—not because everything is perfect, but because something
is still good?
You don't need polished answers.
Just sit with the questions.
Talk to God honestly.
Sometimes perspective returns when we stop staring only at
what went wrong long enough to notice everything that didn't.
🙏 Affirmations
✨ I can
experience frustration without surrendering my peace.
✨ I choose
perspective when life does not go according to plan.
✨ I am
grateful for what remains good, even when something goes wrong.
✨ I trust
myself to handle unexpected moments with wisdom and grace.
✨ I thank
God for today's blessings, both big and small.
📖 Bible
Verse
"In every thing give thanks: for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." — 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (KJV)
Notice that Scripture doesn't say for everything.
It says in everything.
There are things we will never be grateful happened.
Loss, tragedy, heartbreak, illness, destruction—faith does not
require us to call painful things good.
But even inside difficult circumstances, we can search for
something that reminds us God is still present.
Gratitude can coexist with frustration.
Peace can coexist with uncertainty.
Faith can coexist with questions.
The practical application is simple: when something goes wrong
today, don't force yourself to immediately feel positive.
Acknowledge it.
Then ask:
"God, what is still good here?"
Maybe the answer is tiny.
That's okay.
Start there.
Sometimes one small point of gratitude is enough to stop
frustration from swallowing the rest of the day.
🎵 Song
of the Day
“Three Little Birds” — Bob Marley & The
Wailers
Today's song felt like it needed to carry the same lightness
as this message.
Not denial.
Not pretending life never gets difficult.
Just that gentle reminder that we don't have to give every
worry the power to consume us.
There is something comforting about music that reminds us to
loosen our grip a little—to trust that today's inconvenience isn't necessarily
tomorrow's disaster.
Put this song on when you've had one of those days.
The kind where little things keep going wrong.
Let yourself breathe.
Smile if you can.
Dance around the kitchen if the mood hits you. 💃🏽
And remember: this moment isn't your whole story.
🌼 Final
Thoughts
Life can change incredibly quickly.
Sometimes that's frightening to think about.
But it can also make ordinary moments feel more sacred.
The bed you're making.
The house you're cleaning.
The family member getting on your nerves.
The dinner you're preparing.
The blankets piled on your bed because you and your husband
apparently cannot agree on a reasonable temperature. 😂
These ordinary things are life.
And sometimes we don't recognize how precious ordinary is
until something interrupts it.
So yes, my ceiling fan broke.
I'll eventually find another one.
I'll probably complain about how none of them look right.
I'll probably spend way too much time comparing them.
And eventually there will be another fan hanging from that
ceiling.
But somewhere nearby, another family is dealing with something
far greater than replacing a fan.
That perspective doesn't make me guilty for being annoyed.
It makes me grateful.
Maybe that's the invitation for all of us.
Don't wait for life to become perfect before you appreciate
it.
Notice what is still standing.
Notice who is still beside you.
Notice the roof above you, the food available to you, the
laughter that still finds you, and the ordinary routines you sometimes complain
about.
And the next time something small goes wrong, give yourself a
moment before deciding the whole day is terrible.
You may discover that it wasn't a bad day at all.
It was a good day with a frustrating moment.
There is a difference.
May God help you recognize that difference.
May He give you perspective when frustration starts growing
larger than the situation deserves.
May He remind you of what remains when your attention becomes
fixed on what went wrong.
And may you never become so accustomed to ordinary blessings
that you forget how extraordinary it is to have them. 🤍
With love and gratitude,
Angel 🤍
AMC Rise and Thrive
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#FindingPerspective #TrustGod
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