Everyone has experienced a time when they lost something.

I’ve lost a lot – silly things like a spot on my middle school cheerleading team, or the interest of a crush I had when I was 10-years-old. Even things I fought really hard for – like when I ran for a student government position in college and lost by 8 votes or when I applied for a really awesome job at a non-profit a few years back and they hired someone else Instead.

Losing is painful.

But it’s also the very best thing that can happen to you.

Why? Well because it makes you fight harder, longer, faster, than you would if you won and carried on with your precious life. Every single time I lost – I couldn’t fall asleep that night. I’d bust open my computer or take out a notebook and figure out a way to win or to let that dream go and dream of something bigger and better.

I’m telling you this because a lot of articles out there are talking about how to talk about what happened with the election to your kids. And I don’t have any kids but I still want someone to talk to. I want to you to know that when you talk about the election to adults – or whatever you want to call us hard-working humans who are working overtime to figure this crazy little world out – the best thing you can talk about is the benefits of losing.

This week, I thought about all the things I’ve ever lost – but that wasn’t so easy to do. I didn’t sit down and jot down all the memories of times I didn’t win, got NO as a response, or just didn’t do well at something I thought I’d succeed at.

Come on – that’s practically impossible.

Our brain hides those memories from us so that we can keep on keeping on without dwelling on too much negative. Instead I thought about all of the good I have in my life right now and how each and every one of those things (except my family, of course) came from the aftermath of losing something else I thought I really wanted.

Give it a try yourself and you’ll see – the best things in life are the things you received only after you found yourself scratching your head, wondering what’s next, because Plan A didn’t happen and Plan B was still under construction.

Ps. Join in on the MONDAY fun. Right here, right now.