The Cliché of When Life Hands You Lemons...

When life hands you lemons...like everyone else you want to smash them into mush because you just want life to hand you something else. I get it we all have our moments of pure frustration. We want something to just happen in a way that those lemons don't come our way. But they do come our way for all of us.

Some have it all together not a lemon in sight. And then those that seem to have lemon decor, lemon-scented cleaning supplies, lemon earrings, and lemons hanging in the rearview mirror. Are the ones whose lemons aren't showing hiding them? Are the ones with lemons everywhere hanging their lemons out to dry like laundry? It's a mystery but we all have lemons.

So, the cliche of when life hands you lemons, make lemonade is an overused saying that people use to make you feel better about the weight of life that is on your shoulders. The idiom is supposed to help and bring peace and a sense of reorganization.

The choice of lemons as a sour bitter fruit is a symbol of the bitter treatment of life. Making the sour into a sweet drink and drinking it is us conquering the sourness of life.

If you wonder where this little saying came from it was used for the first time in an obituary in 1915. Writer Elbert Hubbard wrote it for an actor who was a dwarf named Marshall Pinckney Wilder.

“He cashed in on his disabilities. He picked up the lemons that fate gave him and started a lemonade stand"

It has also been cited by many to be from Dale Carnegie in his 1948 book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.

“if you have a lemon, make a lemonade”.

However, the saying was brought to fruition the bottom line is for us to take our downtrodden feelings and turn them around make them a blessing. It is hard sometimes to find hope with the bitterness of life, or to see the glass half full instead of half empty but it can be done.

First, we should not avoid or ignore the bad or the hardness that is going on. Avoidance only makes things harder in the end. It's ok to wallow in it for an hour or two or even a day or two but don't sweep it under the rug and ignore it.

Second, we should own it or live up to our mistakes or mishaps. It might be something we didn't do exactly but it's happening to us. Accepting that it is happening and that we are in the thick of it will help us process what has happened and what we can do to get out of it.

Third, take into consideration is this a horrible thing that has happened. A year ago I walked out of a dead-end job in a not very nice way. I cussed my passive-aggressive boss out and walked out. Did I do it the correct way? That's a big fat NO. But was it the best thing for me and my husband? YES. Would I change how I did it? Yes, I would but I wouldn't change that I left the job. I accept what I did as not very good but I also know I needed to leave for many reasons.

Fourth, would you have what you have without the situation? Step back and see what you have. Would you be able to accept an awesome job, boyfriend, girlfriend, experience, etc if whatever happened didn't happen.

Fifth, CHANGE is wonderful. Repeat after me CHANGE is wonderful. I won't say all bitterness in life is a wonderful blessing. But as we take a step back and really look at what has happened, accept it, own it, and change we will see the greatness that can come from it.

When life hands you lemons make lemonade. Those bitter things in life can bring such hardship AND blessings. By changing how we look at what we've been given or not given we can change so much in ourselves.