When Things Go Wrong – Could It Be a Blessing in Disguise?

How often has it happened that when things go wrong, we get all upset about it, only to realise later — with the wonderful benefit of hindsight — that what looked like bad luck was actually a blessing in disguise? That happened to me recently. The incident that initially looked as though it could cost me thousands of rands also put me face-to-face with a boomslang — one of Africa’s most dangerous snakes. Yet what looked like one big setback eventually worked in my favour in ways I hadn't expected. It brought me three unexpected blessings. Sometimes we are so focused on what has gone wrong that we cannot yet see what else may be unfolding. My recent experience reminded me just how quickly something we label as bad luck can look very different when we live from the belief that everything is happening for us.

It Started With My Jacuzzi

I love my Jacuzzi, but recently the pump motor packed up. My first thought was probably the same one most of us have when something expensive suddenly stops working: How much is this going to cost me? The motor is in a well-insulated box on the deck, to reduce the noise for the neighbours. When I opened the box, I saw that the insulation material was right up against the motor. This is an error I had made before, and it had caused the motor to overheat. And this mistake had cost me thousands of rands. It was definitely a setback. But that broken pump was about to lead to something I certainly hadn't anticipated. Then I Spotted a Snake As I gently moved the insulation material away from the motor, I saw something moving underneath it. I realised it was a snake and it could be venemous one. So I asked for help on the community WhatsApp group. And I was so blessed that within 15 minutes an expert came to have a look. This is when I realised how dangerous the situation had been. This snake was not just any snake. It was a boomslang. This is one of the deadliest African snakes . What makes it even more dangerous is that the antivenom is not readily available in South Africa. Snakes will always try and slither away to safety, unless they feel cornered. This snake was in a confined area in the motor-house box, so it easily could have felt unsafe and bitten me to protect itself. Fortunately, it didn't. The snake was safely removed, and I was left thinking about how differently the whole situation could have turned out. The very problem I had been irritated about had led us to discover a danger I hadn't even known was there. Was the broken pump bad luck — or was it already becoming a blessing in disguise?

Back to the Broken Pump

Once the excitement with the boomslang was over, there was still the original problem to deal with: my Jacuzzi pump wasn't working. This was the part I had expected to become expensive. I removed the pump and asked the local handyman, if he could take it into town to get it fixed. He then offered to have a look at it first, as he has experience working on jacuzzi motors. It turned out the repair cost was just over R100 instead of thousands of rands like last time.  

Sometimes the Blessing Is Accepting Support

I am very accustomed to doing things myself. Many of us are. We become independent, find solutions and make plans.  We may do this because we don’t want to burden others, or we feel indebted after accepting support. I believe this is one reason many of us find receiving support more difficult than giving it. This situation gave me another opportunity to practise accepting support when it was offered. That may sound like a small thing compared with meeting a boomslang, but our blessings don't always arrive with flashing lights and trumpets. The handyman offered to reinstall the pump for me.  I could have done it myself. Yet after experiencing the wonderful support from the snake removers, I decided to accept this support as well.

And Then We Discovered Another Problem

While sorting out the pump, we discovered something else that had been wrong. For years, the Jacuzzi had been causing a problem for my neighbours because of the noise. We had tried many things, including using insulation materials. As the handyman reconnected the pump, it became clear that I had made a mistake the last time I installed the pump. I had fastened the pump to the deck with some screws and this had caused the whole deck to vibrate softly, amplifying the noise. Thanks to the handyman we didn’t repeat this mistake. The result was a much quieter pump. Something that began with “Oh no! My Jacuzzi pump has packed up!” was looking increasingly different.

Three Blessings From One Setback

When I looked back at everything that had happened, I realised that this one setback had brought me three blessings.

1. I Discovered a Danger and Felt Protected

Something in me had made me move that insulation material gently instead of yanking it away in irritation. If I had done that, the snake would probably have had a fright and bitten me. It was as if my gentle hand movement had been Divinely guided and it had kept me safe. And this had made me feel so protected.

2. I Practised Accepting Support

The situation reminded me that we don't always benefit from doing everything ourselves. Sometimes allowing someone else to contribute is part of our own growth. I learnt to receive support gracefully when I couldn't do something myself, such as removing a snake. I had felt like the damsel in distress. 😊 Then I extended that ability to receive by accepting support even when I could do something myself. This was an important part of this experience for me. What looked like an external problem had given me another opportunity to grow my ability to receive. And our inability to receive can easily stand between us and our abundance.

3. 3. We finally Resoved An Old ProblemWas Finally Resolved

   The Jacuzzi noise had been bothering my neighbours for years. Fixing the pump finally solved the problem. Without the pump packing up, we might never have discovered that the way I had attached it to the deck was amplifying the noise.

One apparent piece of bad luck had created a chain of events I could never have predicted. What I had initially regarded as a setback had turned into several unexpected blessings.

What If We Don't Yet Know Whether It's Bad Luck?

This is the part I find fascinating. When things go wrong, we generally judge them according to the information available in that moment. The car breaks down, a plan falls through, someone cancels, something expensive stops working, or we don't get the opportunity we wanted. Our immediate reaction may be frustration, anger, disappointment or fear.

• We call it a setback.
• We call it bad luck.
• We may even ask, “Why is this happening to me?”

But there is something we don't know yet: we don't know what happens next. We don’t know yet how this is happening for us.

• Perhaps the breakdown prevents something worse.
• Perhaps the cancellation opens another opportunity.
• Perhaps the person who disappoints us reveals something we were better off knowing.
• Perhaps the expensive-looking problem leads us to discover something else entirely.

That doesn't mean every painful or frightening experience is automatically a blessing. Sometimes something happens that we would never choose and would never wish on another person. But we can still ask ourselves: What can I do with what has happened? That question changes where we place our attention.

Why Is This Happening to Me?” to “How Is This Happening for Me?

When we're in the middle of a setback, finding the blessing can feel impossible because we don't yet have hindsight. Our first reaction may be to ask, “Why is this happening to me?” But perhaps that is exactly when looking at life differently becomes so valuable. Instead of immediately deciding, “This is terrible,” we can leave a little space for another possibility: “I don't like what is happening, but perhaps I don't know the whole story yet.” That isn't about pretending everything is wonderful or forcing ourselves to be grateful for something that hurts. The game changer comes when we change the question from “Why is this happening to me?” to “How is this happening for me?” My broken Jacuzzi pump was still inconvenient. Finding a boomslang close to me was still dangerous. Neither fact changed. What changed was how I looked at what had happened and what came from it. And that is how what first appears to be bad luck can become a blessing in disguise.

Will We Choose Bitter or Better?

This is very much at the heart of my book, Bitter or Better, I Decide – A Guide to Happy Ever After Living. We cannot always choose what happens around us, but we can become more conscious of what we do with what happens. We can practise looking at situations differently and question the meaning we initially give them. Instead of remaining stuck in what has gone wrong, we can begin looking for what the experience might be showing us or where it could take us. Sometimes we may even discover the blessing sooner, rather than waiting years for hindsight to reveal it. My book is filled with tools and practices for doing exactly that — choosing better over bitter and learning to look differently at what life brings us. Find out more about Bitter or Better, I Decide at www.BitterOrBetterIDecide.com

Has Bad Luck Ever Turned Into a Blessing for You?

Now I would love to hear your story. Have you ever experienced something that felt like a disaster, setback or piece of bad luck at the time, only to discover later that it was actually a blessing in disguise?

• Perhaps something entirely different came from it.
• Perhaps it protected you from something you couldn't see.
• Perhaps it changed the direction of your life.

Share your story in the comments below the video. Your setback-turned-blessing may be exactly the story that gives someone else a completely different perspective on what is happening in their life right now.