I am a Microsoft  excel nerd. Give me some data and the opportunity to start writing formulas, and I am in hog heaven. It’s really sad.

One of the formulas that is used often is the If/Then formula. If/Then is a common concept in formula-writing and programming– it simply means If a statement is true, then the formula returns a certain value. If it is not true, you can set whatever you want as the return value. One day I was writing an If/Then statement, and I commanded the formula to return a certain number if the a formula was true, and then I paused. My visceral reaction was to just leave a blank if the formula was not true, but that was boring. I smiled to myself as I placed a “(:” in the return value. Whoever worked on that spreadsheet next would either laugh or think I had a lot of time on my hands, but at least it made me smile.

When I made the choice to add whatever I wanted for the “not true” factor, I think my If/Then revelation began to permeate my thinking. When we are faced with something in life that does not work out how it should or how we expect, of course we tend to be upset. It’s understandable. We know exactly what we’re going to do do when we get that “yes”. We have a plan, path, location, idea, that we have predetermined to follow through with once we get the answer we expect.

But I believe that beauty lies in the moments where we don’t get the answer we expect. When you get a “no”, or if the answer you expected and wished for evades you, take heart. Life happens in the unknown. If you get what you were hoping for, it’s a wonderful thing, but that renders your options down to one. Not getting what you were expecting opens up every other possibility that life could offer. Isn’t that exciting?

If no, then what? Anything.