Potholes aren’t the road’s opinion of you. Slow down, steer, and keep driving.

It is easy to read bad luck as commentary. A hole in the asphalt was there before you arrived and would have been there for anyone else, and the fact that it happened to you carries no message. Obstacles are conditions, not judgments, and treating them as personal turns a small mechanical problem into a large emotional one.

When something goes wrong this week, ask whether it would have happened to anyone in your seat. If yes, it is a condition, so handle it and move. Save the self examination for the things you actually chose.