When we least expect it, something goes wrong and all our plans go awry. Some people crumble, but most just get up again and let things be the way they are – or they try again. It’s amazing that prayer can spell the difference between being discouraged and being encouraged, between wallowing in self-pity and having the grace to accept the situation. For most of us, prayer is the first and last resort, the one thing that gives us peace to accept things.
Lanao del Norte Governor IMELDA QUIBRANZA-DIMAPORO: In balancing my roles as a politician, wife and mother, I have grown to be more considerate and patient. Nobody is perfect and when things don’t take the direction I expect, I just accept it as a challenge and learn from the process. Then, to release the rage of disappointments, I go for therapy – spa and shopping therapy!
Atty. BUMMER SANTIAGO: I’d move to Plan B.
ENRICO VILLANUEVA, basketball player, Red Bull: Initially, I get disappointed. But I also believe that at that particular time someone needed the blessing more than I did. God is so full of surprises and he will never fail to bless us with the best things we don’t even expect!
FREDERICK GO, executive vice president, Robinsons Land Corporation: If I can still change the situation, I would work on it and give it the time and attention it deserves. If I cannot, then I would live with it, and let life go on.
RHEA SANTOS, news anchor, TV host: I belong to an industry that never succumbs to failure. As we always say, the show must go on. In my life, I always have plan B’s. I think I’m a good trouble shooter. But if everything else fails, I allow myself to hurt and to cry and I learn from the experience.
CAROL MASIBAY GARCIA: Before, I would get so frustrated but now I just tell myself that maybe it was not meant to be. I don’t force the issue anymore but the best way, which is a proven and tested solution, is to pray on it and somehow it turns out to be the way I wanted it to be.
RUFFA GUTIERREZ-BEKTAS, actress: My reaction would depend on the situation and my mood on that day. I try to think positive and humbly accept God’s will if things can’t be changed. I also try to find a solution in the most graceful way possible after some soul searching, and never underestimate plan B!
ANDY VASQUEZ PRADA, buyer/design editor of Rustan’s Home Division: Life’s full of setbacks and all I can do is accept them. However, I never give up and I always try again. If I still don’t succeed, I learn to accept that it’s not meant to be.
BETTINA ABOITIZ, Socials Secretary, Office of the President: I try to figure out what went wrong, learn from it and move on.
ANTOINETTE "TONI" RIVERO, international taekwondo champion, SEA Games gold medalist, Athens Olympics semi-finalist: I try to analyze where I went wrong. I won’t take it negatively but instead I will take it as an opportunity to correct my mistakes in order to improve myself.