It’s hard to stay smiling and optimistic when things go sideways. You know it’s a blip in a rather smooth road, but it’s still a blip nonetheless and it causes discomfort.
It’s even worse when you are not the initiator of this blip. Sometimes things just happen and that’s that! When things don’t go our way, people have tendencies to overact or even react disproportionally to this mishap. In many cases, our reaction to unfortunate happenings make things worse then what has already happened.
In the last few months, there have been some unfortunate examples of this happening. Earlier in the year, huge crowds of people hit the streets in Paris and around France to demonstrate, they were dubbed the ‘Yellow Vest’ protestors. While their demonstrations were birthed from good intentions, they quickly escalated to acts of violence and vandalism. The same is currently happening in Hong Kong, Barcelona and a couple of cities around the world.
All these are just blips in a rather smooth road, the issues can and are usually resolved in a win-win situation, however, the aftermaths and consequences of these reactions, the demonstrations, do not have the same fate. In many cases, it’s the youth driving these gatherings and demonstrations, wherein the midst of it all, vandalism and loss of lives and injuries are ensured. People tend to overreact.
In times of turmoil rarely are people able to make rational decisions and approach issues and mishaps with a clear and sound mind, even if is just a small and insignificant blip. This at times really has nothing to little to do with the person the anger is directed to. A lot of times things happen that are simply out of our control and being booked for it, really it doesn’t help anyone who is caught up in it.
Despite what is going on now and how bad it gets, there is always going to be a whole lot more to smile about and a whole lot more to look forward to, nobody knows what the future holds, but as the youth we at least have the power to shape it to the best of our abilities to meet our needs and desires.
Discomfort and challenges come with the territory of being alive and human. It’s not necessarily something to frown upon, but something to be optimistic about and to make the best out of even when things go sideways.
* Olavi Popyeinawa has a diploma in Alternative Dispute Resolution and is currently studying law, LLB at the University of Namibia. He writes on youth matters. Twitter: @ OlaviPopyeinawa and olavipopyeinawa@gmail.com