13 Ways People Deal with Bad News

So how do YOU deal with bad news?

I guess the way you answer that question really depends on what the bad news is. Right?

I mean, if the bad news is your favorite baseball team lost in the playoffs, then you'll deal with that in a certain way. (It's not such a big deal unless you're a fanatic.)

If the bad news is your brother and sister-in-law are losing their house to foreclosure, then you'll deal with that in a certain way. (That's a much bigger deal than a sports game.)

If the bad news is about Y-O-U and you've got cancer (God forbid), you'll definitely deal with that in a certain way. (It's probably the biggest deal when it's happening to Y-O-U. Right?)

So how do YOU deal with bad news?

I submit that each of us deals with bad news in probably one or more of the following ways (negative and positive included)...

13 Ways People Deal with Bad News:
(what might you add to the list?)

1. Stick their head in the sand
2. Complain
3. Spend a lot of money
4. Drink alcohol
5. Run away (not just physically, but emotionally, socially, etc)
6. Get depressed
7. Reach out for support (talk to trusted family and friends)
8. Question why
9. Get (real) angry
10. Blame others
11. Kill themselves (unfortunately it happens~if you know somebody having suicidal thoughts, get them help)
12. Accept it and take steps to overcome
13. Go to church

You might also be interested in:

• 17 Reasons Why People Do Anything
• 8 Attitudes That Make for a Bad Impression

In a Slow Market Thinking You Can

“Puff, puff, chug, chug, went the Little Blue Engine. ‘I think I can-I think I can-I think I can-I think I can…’ until at last they reached the top of the mountain. ‘Hurray, hurray.’” A daughter was reading these words to her father who was dying. Yes. You saw it right. It was: “The Little Engine That Could” (by Watty Piper) she was reading. And in the hospital room during the times of increased pain where her father wasn’t doing very well, the daughter would read and her father would listen. And he would squeeze her hand to make it just a little bit longer – a little bit longer. ******* Prior to his death, the father told his daughter to go back to school and finish her degree. She said it was too hard. After all, she was so busy with her family and other things. The father smiled and said, “Let me tell you the story about a train that couldn’t get over a mountain.” His daughter would go on to get that degree. ******* I like that story. What makes it all the more moving is it’s true. I actually came across it on a book review website (of all places). The daughter of the dad who died was writing a review about “The Little Engine That Could” and this was her story. And I couldn’t help but think it’s just so good in a slow market time when all the news about real estate coming out, it can seem like it’s bleaker and bleaker still. It’s in these kinds of times that I think stories of others and how they faced their challenges are all the more helpful. And maybe you could go back and read “The Little Engine That Could” to your child or grandchild - or maybe just to yourself? I know it sounds crazy. But it worked for one dad who was dying and then for his girl who needed to entrust him to God’s hands and, after that, go back to college. It’s those that think they can that end up crossing impossible mountains.