I love what you've done with the greenhouse. Also when did we get a greenhouse? (Unsplash/Anthony Tran)
A loss is a terrible thing – just ask New York Jets fans. But a loss when your team is expected to win is even more painful, and after the first weekend of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, you are feeling the pain. But once you get over the initial stages of grief, try looking for a way to turn this relatively low-stakes pain into some very useful self-promotion. It’s the type of gumption this country was built on. And no, I’m not talking about the founding fathers. I’m talking about Christopher Columbus. That dude was trying to sail to India, ended up landing in the Bahamas, and still got credit for discovering America. Columbus taught us, life is not about winning. It’s about marketing.
Here are a few ways you can tell people this experience actually made you a better person:
If you market this properly, someday they'll make a statue of you (Unsplash/Kevin Olson)
YOU ARE RESILIENT AND WILLING TO LEARN THINGS
Sure your team lost, but you’re not defeated. There are a lot of teams still left in the tournament and you will choose another one one to root for because you’re no quitter. Not only that, you just learned that Creighton is in Nebraska and Purdue is in Indiana, and because of a graphic you saw during halftime, you now know those two states don’t touch. You’re basically a geographer… a geographist? You know stuff.
YOU NOW WANT TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH THE FAMILY
Last weekend, you kept tabs on all 48 games of the men’s tournament. Since you love your family, you can let them know that was just an isolated weekend and that you will be spending a little more time with them this weekend. You don’t have to mention that there will only be 12 games this weekend.
Embarrassing pic during the big game. Useful during an argument. (Unsplash/Christian Erfurt)
TURNS OUT YOU ARE EMOTIONALLY AVAILABLE
You have been accused of being emotionally distant in the past, but crying on your wife’s shoulder when you got home from the sports bar on Friday should put a solid end to that now-debunked assertion.
So put away that puffy, “My team is #1” finger (which is also now technically untrue,) and pick yourself up by your bootstraps… or in this case, sneaker laces. Let us help you turn this tournament defeat into a few real-life victories.
