A gain out of a loss

I had a bit of a frustrating experience yesterday, but as a result I managed to make some progress in dealing with my tendency to have negative self-talk.

What happened was this: I got ready to go to work last night, and somehow managed to lose my keys just before I was set to go. A frantic search with my mom turned up nothing, leaving us both frustrated and upset, but finally there was nothing I could do but take my spare keys and head out.

That's when the negative self-talk started, but something different happened as well. I was able to meet the challenge of the negative voice on its own terms, and win.

For example when the idea came into my head that "I'm always doing stupid stuff like this." I was able to counter with "Always? When was the last time exactly. Cant even remember, which means its been a long time, which certainly isnt 'Always'."

Eventually, the negative stuff went away, and I felt like I had made a serious step forward, even if it did cost me my keys.

I guess no pain, no gain, huh?