Learning From Everything

Learn your lessons, wherever you can find them. And you can find them everywhere.

One of mine comes straight from Margaret Mitchell and Sidney Howard, the novelist and screenwriter, respectively, behind 1937 Pulitzer Prize winner and 1939 Academy Award winner Gone With the Wind.

When I’m in a quandary, facing a big challenge, or otherwise overwhelmed in some way, I run the risk of focusing in on the impossibilities. I determine that obstacles are insurmountable and things can’t be done. And I forget that, just because things appear dim right now, that they might not be so bad. At that moment, “it can’t be done right now” becomes “it can’t be done at all.” “Things are dark right now” becomes “things are dark, period.”

Enter Ms. Mitchell and Mr. Howard, with their expert advice: Remember that…

“Tomorrow is another day.”

I saw Gone With the Wind many years ago, and certainly hadn’t remembered this, the last line of the film, and one of the most enduring lines in film history. Fortunately, a friend reminded me of this line a few years ago, and it hit me between the eyes: I’d developed a habit of doubt. I’d become accustomed to thinking, “If I can’t figure it out today, and if I can’t make it happen today, then I can’t figure it out or make it happen—at all.” This simple line reminded me—

Not so.

Feel overwhelmed? Not sure how to make “it” happen? Take a deep breath, take the pressure off, and take the action for forward movement that you need to take today, no matter how small. And as you do, believe that, and know that, just because you can’t see how things will all come together today—tomorrow is another day. And another day can make all the difference.