Looking back over the this month, I’ve been seeing a lot of Mr. Murphy. Well, that’s life. Sometimes it’s unpredictable and things don’t quite go according to plan. But it does beat the alternative. So, 13 things to do when Murphy strikes:

1. Count your blessings. There’s always something to be grateful for.
2. Improvise. Maybe things have not gone according to plan, so make a new plan.
3. Look for the silver lining. I’ve learned some lessons recently that I can see will benefit me over the long term, even though I wouldn’t have chosen to change the way I did things. Sometimes being forced out of one’s comfort zone or forced to learn new techniques is a blessing in disguise.
4. Count to ten. Get calm. Whatever the problem is, it can be dealt with.
5. Do some research. Discover alternatives.
6. Practice being flexible. There’s a lot of truth to the old “the reed that bends is not broken” saying.
7. Focus on how you want things to be, not how things are. It’ll help get the brain looking at ways to get from here to there.
8. Count your blessings again.
9. Adapt.
10. Be good to yourself.
11. Let go. Your original plan is in tatters, so let go of it.
12. If you’re not sure how you want things to be, take some time to imagine it. Or look at pictures, see what appeals.
13. Count your blessings some more.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! Be thankful for all the good stuff and bury the rest in apple pie and a mashed potato-gravy volcano.