If you are of a certain age or a movie buff, you might remember the movie “The Sting”, released in 1973. It is based on the novel “The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man” by David Maurer. It’s a great movie about a grifter or con man that takes revenge on a crime boss for murdering his friend, another con man. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it; it was nominated for 10 different Academy Awards and won 7 of them. Like I said, it’s a great movie. So, where am I going with this?
This has been a long, rough week for me. For a few of my friends, it has been a long, rough month full of bad luck, setbacks, and frustration. My tribe and I have run the gamut from having plane seat backs breaking (and the other passenger, a 14 year old, getting upgraded to first class), sprinkler systems set off as my friend walked into the office (no umbrella), cars breaking down, vacations cancelled or cut short due to Covid or accidents, and just being too busy to take a break—it’s been a month / week. Oh, and by the way, as I write this, it’s only Wednesday! The only good news? Most, but not all of this happened to one person in one week. So, at least the pain was shared to an extent, though not equally. Oh, and mercury is not even in retrograde yet; yes, I looked it up. 😊 It’s coming and soon, so you might want to duck! I would say that it can’t get any worse, but we all know that no matter how bad things are, they can always be worse.
So, what does a movie about revenge and con men have to do with bad luck? The key takeaway from the “The Sting” was “the Long Con” or, what we might call, the “long game”. Like the stock market, over time, the returns tend to be positive, regardless of the short-term ups and downs. And, like a bad run in the stock market, bad luck also passes.
Until then, hey, it’s not all bad. These are minor setbacks, and what my friend often calls “champagne” (not serious) problems. Like everything else, this too shall pass; just keep moving forward. But until it does, I will navigate through as best I can while reminding myself of the bigger picture.
I might just lock myself in a room and watch “The Sting” again. 😊
“Don’t take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.” – Elbert Hubbard
How do you handle bad luck? Let me know.
Have a good weekend.
-Vijay