Are you life prepared? I like that term “life prepared.” When a crisis hits, are you life prepared or do you need a life preserver?

The definition of life is a mellow time followed by constant chaos followed by a mellow time followed by constant chaos. When do you learn the most in life?

Do you learn the most in life during the mellow times when things are really easy and simple, or do you learn the most when you’re in chaos? True survivors and true winners in life embrace the chaos and learn from it. Granted, we all react differently during chaos.

I know that I initially go very “glass is half empty” during chaos. The minute chaos hits, I’m thinking about everything that can go wrong during that chaos. I need to process the negative before I can get positive.

Once I process the negative things and I realize how ridiculous they are, then I go right to positive. I start thinking about what the experience is actually going to be, how it’s going to change me and how it’s going to change my life for the better.

There are people I know who are positive right away. That’s wonderful. We all process things the way we need to process things.

It’s the strong who survive during the chaotic times. Chaos just sucks.

You start the year off with a great job and some money in the bank. The next thing you know, you get fired and end up broke. You freak out.

I’ve been there. I remember back in my 20’s being fired from a bartending job. I had to hit the pavement for eight weeks — four hours a day in the ice cold — before I found a new job.

Only the strong push themselves through and survive chaos. How you react to things is your own issue, but don’t ever bring people down when you react.

You need to process things in your own way. It’s perfectly all right to process things in your own way.

We all grow during tough times. The ones who don’t grow during tough times are the ones who never really learn, and never really enjoy the true beauty in life.

Anyone can succeed when things are easy. It’s only the strong who survive when the shit hits the fan.