Surviving Getting Sucker Punched by Life

You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.

~ Rocky Balboa

There are many unknowns in life, and getting sucker punched is one. Getting sucker-punched is when we get hit without seeing it coming, when someone throws a blow before the fight begins, or worse, after it is over. Well, we can get sucker-punched emotionally too.

When we least expect it, something happens that leaves us with the air knocked out of our stomachs. We metaphorically hit the ground.

Sometimes we don’t get a full sucker punch, we may get just a shove, but eventually, it will happen. However, what matters most when it occurs is how we deal with it. Do you get knocked down and stay down or get knocked down and pick yourself up?

When the inevitable happens and we get knocked on our asses, here are some choices to help us bounce back.

Our emotional reactions are crucial to recovering and getting back up. Developing the ability to bounce back is accomplished by using our power of staying calm, cool, and collected.

For example, when we have been knocked off-center, we can adjust our mindset from feeling beaten down to one of excitement, knowing we have a chance to get up and get back into the game.

However, the adjustment to alter our mindset takes intentional thoughts and desire. Just like creating a good habit or letting go of a bad one, these choices can be gradual to make permanent. First, there is setting the intention, then it becomes a behavior, then a habit, then a practice, which becomes second nature, and ultimately it becomes we are.

So, start with the daily things that ruffle our feathers—master staying calm with the small stuff and practice bouncing back quickly when you take the hit. You can do this when you are driving in traffic, standing in store lines, or managing frustration when you can’t find what you are looking for. Once you have those conquered, you can then progress to reactions you may habitually have towards family or friends, those who know how to get under your skin. When we relearn how to react to minor things in life, it helps us be ready when we experience those big punches.

Be mindful of what you want to accomplish, then when you begin to react or overreact, catch yourself and stop. Take a breath and let go of the preprogrammed reaction.

Stay centered; when we stress out, we lose our ability to focus and make rational decisions. Our awareness decreases, our ability to see, hear and assess the situations becomes compromised— take a breath. Maintain calm.

Keep your body in a relaxed state. Recognize that a tight muscle is unresponsive and a relaxed one is responsive. So, do a body check and release wherever you are holding tension. Tension can make us freeze, so stay relaxed even when it feels impossible.

Laugh in the face of adversity. Learn to laugh when you fall on your ass. Find the humor when everything you thought was going to happen doesn’t. Laughter isn’t just a quick pick-me-up, though. It’s also good for you over the long term. Laughter may improve our immune system, relieve pain and improve our moods.

Life will always serve up surprises. But one simple truth is that our emotions are the key to how we process them. So have faith that your power of calmness is all you need in the face of those unexpected sucker punches. You’ve got this; all you have to do is let it go and go with the flow and remember the famous words of Marilyn Monroe.