‘Karen and Jay celebrate the spirit of turning adversity into opportunity!’

It’s a well-known refrain… ‘When life gives you lemons, turn them into lemonade!’ Easy and fun to say. Not so easy to do – especially when you are the one receiving the lemons. In some ways, it’s a learned skill - and a real test of our positive spirit.

So, when this happens to you, here are several tips. Like I say, ‘not easy,’ but, definitely, worth a try. First, take a deep breath. A bit of time and distance usually helps. Then, with your new-found perspective, ask yourself ‘what are you grateful for?’ This will take your mind off the current situation – and if done with earnest feeling, will begin to change your whole physiology – putting you in a positive state of mind. And, lastly, realize that you never really can predict the future. That thing that just happened to you – that event that you think looks like a lemon – may, actually, turn out to be a blessing and the impact may be far different that it appears on the surface. You just never know. Moreover, most often, if you attack that circumstance with true gusto and a ‘can do’ attitude, chances are you’ll be able to transform those lemons into a positive outcome – essentially, you’ll be making lemonade!

The core idea is that when life throws something difficult your way, there’s always a way to turn it into something sweeter. However, life isn’t just about turning lemons into a sweet glass of lemonade, because let’s face it, lemons have their own great benefits, whether sweetened or unsweetened. I personally love to have a slice of lemon in my water or even drizzled over certain pasta dishes. The analogy of “turning lemons into lemonade” really has to do with how we handle the unexpected. For example, if someone unexpectedly hands us a lemon when perhaps we were expecting an orange and tells us to eat it, we don’t just cringe and do nothing with it; we put it to use in any way that we can to make the most out of the unexpected.

This reminds me of a story involving another type of lemon – the car type – and a US Army veteran named John Marti. Back in 1985, when John was just 21 years old, he was involved in a non-combat incident that led to an infection which ultimately cost him his right leg. Honorably discharged from the army following physical therapy and rehabilitation, he felt lost and unsure of where he would take his life. That was when his uncle, knowing John had a love for cars and fixing them, introduced him to an old and pretty beat-up car he thought he could get back on the road. At first glance, John scoffed at the offer, recommending they scrap it and that he didn't have the talent to fix up the car. Yet the uncle persisted, and after a few months, John told him he’d give it a shot if it meant he’d stop bothering him about it. Sure enough, after a few new parts and long nights, John had the car back on the road. When word got out among family and friends that John was a pretty good mechanic, they started reaching out to him to help with their little automotive woes. Little did John know, this “lemon” he fixed would actually help set the course for the rest of his life and give him the confidence to meet any unexpected challenge, especially in the face of what he’d already overcome as a veteran. It showed him there was a different way to find success, even if it wasn’t aligned with his expectations. John would eventually go on to become a race car mechanic, open up his own car shop, and even go on to become an amateur race car driver (not to mention a parachutist, skier, and ‘hand cyclist’).

When life hands us the proverbial lemon, it often means adapting to our obstacles rather than simply accepting them. It also means recognizing when circumstances have changed and that maybe it’s time to walk away from something that doesn’t suit us. This may be difficult to do because it may mean we have to start over or take a few steps back, but it’s all a part of healthy, positive thinking – being kind to ourselves and overcoming adversity in a way that’s most suitable for ourselves. It’s a subtle adjustment to our perspective, but it can have an immensely positive impact. So perhaps it's not always lemonade that we make out of lemons, but there’s always something we can either make or take away.

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