Even the expected can throw us off.  How much more the unexpected.  I have a few ideas for how to handle the unexpected.  I wish I could tell you that applying or utilizing these ideas will guarantee quick recovery and an immediate restoration of joy in living.  Unfortunately that is not reality.  Still, having some pointers, some hooks to hang your experience on, might be of great help.  Consider these principles:

1. Anticipate change, including unexpected change or change outside your control.  Life is full of such changes.
2. Accept new roads, and learn to tolerate and engage the unexpected detours.
3. Apply the Gumby Principle– In all things be flexible.
4. Allow yourself the time you need to process the unexpected, and realize everyone is an individual with their own needed amount of time to process events adequately.
5. Adapt to your new circumstance.  One of the most impressive aspects of our humanity is our ability to adapt.  Learn to trust this about yourself.
6. Associate with people who can support you– good friends, supportive family members, ministry professionals, a counselor. 
7. Always remember that relationships come first.

This list is not meant to be exhaustive, and it is certainly not meant to be formulaic.  We are each far too complex for that.  But as I heard a commentator on CNN say recently, “Perfect should not be used as an argument against the good.”  In other words, if you think you need to turn “now” into a heavenly or utopian space, then you will likely discover that no help is adequate, no set of ideas will suffice.  But if you can come to terms with your humanity in a broken world, then applying the kinds of principles noted above can be extremely useful in helping you deal effectively and positively with “now.”

A good therapist can help you deal with the challenges of “now.”  All of us need a little help dealing with life from time to time.  Life isn’t easy in our world.  But if you avoid the tendency toward wanting and needing it to be perfect, what you will discover is that life can be really good.  A good therapist can help you discover hope for today.

Perfect comes later.