Hello, my name is Andrew and I’m here to share my story and provide a place for you to share your story too. A very close friend of mine, who also had a lot of trauma told me a story about how when they were younger, and things got bad, they would go to their neighbor’s house to escape what was going on at home. their neighbor would serve them tea, then deal a hand from a deck of cards. As they flipped the cards over, would say, “sometimes in life, you just have to play the hand you were dealt.”
Then tell them to go back home.
This story stuck with me. For a long time I thought this was a terrible thing to do to a person in need. As I got healthier physically and mentally I began to realize that sometimes the best help a person can give is to do nothing. Sometimes coping with a situation is the only way to overcome the obstacles that you are facing.
I have genuinely spent a lot of time thinking about this quote.
The more I think about it, the more I came to realize that this neighbor was teaching a valuable life lesson, and through my friend, introduced me to a concept that would help me make a lot of positive changes in my life.
I realized that when playing cards, the players who excel are able to keep their emotions out of how they approach the game. they make decisions based on what they SEE in front of them and not what they FEEL. once I see my hand I can fold, raise, or wait to see how other people are reacting. Just like life, and just like in life, if I make decisions based on emotions I tend to make poor decisions.