Week 27: Life's highs and lows
This week, Tyler discusses the highs and lows that come with everyday life.
Happy Wednesday everyone! Thanks for checking out another new episode of the newsletter.
Life is a series of highs and lows. Triumphs and shortfalls. Successes and failures. Peaks and valleys. We work hard to climb the mountain, only to have to come down the other side. It’s why movie plots are so relatable: Protagonist experiences success, encounters some form of an obstacle or challenge, then triumphs on the other side. These plots are relatable because we experience the same highs and lows in our lives too.
Our experience of life’s peaks and valleys are what makes us human. It’s shared by everyone. We all experience success and we all inevitably experience failure. Nobody goes through life only experiencing one or the other. The trouble is, many of us get too high after successes, or too low following failures. Our experience is a consistent wave of these highs and lows.
Despite this reality being shared by everyone, the experience doesn’t necessarily need to be a consistent wave of these highs and lows. First, recognize that it’s inevitable to experience peaks and valleys in life. It doesn’t matter if you’re a professional athlete, a successful business owner, or an entrepreneur, we all win and we all lose. Simply understanding this inevitability helps to cope with this experience. Second, when an experience in life hits you, don’t get too high or too low. Stay even keeled. It’s normal to experience positive emotions following success and negative emotions following failure. Despite this, it’s important to not let one’s emotions get the better of you. Experience these emotions fully, but don’t let them overcome you. Finally, take each high and low as an opportunity to learn. Why did this result happen? How could you have changed the outcome? What did you learn from this experience? By taking each outcome as an opportunity to learn, it promotes reflection and encourages personal growth and striving for excellence.
Remember, we all experience highs and lows. The magnitude may be different for some, but this is something shared by all humans. The difference lies in how we respond to these experiences. Particularly for those on tough times at the moment, remember that will too will end. You will get through this. This is all part of the human condition.
Question: What is your emotional reaction when you encounter success or failure?
Thank you for reading.
Until next week,
Tyler
Twitter: tcmakepeace
Website: tylermakepeace.substack.com
Instagram: tylertalks.blog
ICYMI: Check out last week’s article below!
Great read, thanks for the reminder!
My automatic emotional reaction for both highs & lows or success & failures is tears. It is my main emotion and seems to push through my body as the trigger release for me. Once that has been released then for Highs/ Success would be smile and joy. Lows/Failure would be feeling of frustration or disappointment.
I do my best not to allow myself to sit too long in either of the emotions.