aside from just good marketing advice, don draper’s ‘mad men’ quote that “if you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation” can also be loosely translated to mean: if you don’t like how things are going, you can always change the situation.
my mom has always taught me that almost everything can have a positive spin. but, if you can’t spin it, you can always change it.
two things recently brought don’s and my mom’s wisdom to my attention. last week, i got a text from one of my good friends saying she was waitlisted from umich (surprising to me because she’s brilliant). she was looking for advice, & this brought me right back to this time last year. in all honesty, i was a mess and i struggled to see the bright side in umich’s ‘we’re just not quite ready for you’ decision. i had a few back up schools. but, unlike my friend, i didn’t want to go to any of them. i cried and tried to put a positive spin on my situation, but i couldn’t. so instead of “which back up school should I attend?”, i thought “what will make me happy if i get denied?” i changed the conversation.
i decided that i was going to take a gap year, instead, and travel all over. this was a plan that i was actually excited about & it sure did help comfort me until umich came to her senses (as i’m sure she will with my friend).
also, recently, a new friend and classmate opened up to me about some pretty heavy stuff. he told me that he felt depressed & didn’t know what to do about it. he said he felt lost in the crowd and that he couldn’t do anything right (which obviously wasn’t true, but i dont think that’s really what he wanted to hear). he struggled and finally decided to transfer to a smaller school. he changed his situation. although i know this decision wasn’t easy for him, and i’m heartbroken about it, it’s what’s best for him. i’m sure he will be much happier there.
although i’m generally a happy person and a master of seeing the positive, some situations require more drastic measures. sometimes changing how you look at something just isn’t enough. sometimes the narrative has to change.
