Revenge is a dish served cold…or at least that’s what they say.
Over the course of my life I’ve certainly had my share of disappointments for which I wanted my revenge.
From people lying to me, taking advantage of me, ignoring me and letting me down.
Each and every time it hurt.
I’m the kind of guy who wears his heart on his sleeve so I took each hit hard.
And while some people might have thought I’d forgotten or forgiven them, I assure you I hadn’t.
I just kept biding my time, waiting for my opportunity to strike.
Me, Mr. Nice Guy, planning and plotting my revenge.
Time I could have been using to enhance my own life was being used to plan the demise of another’s.
And here’s the kicker…I never did anything.
Why? Because in life, things have a funny way of working themselves out.
I didn’t have to lift a finger to get revenge.
They did it all on their own.
There’s an expression we use to explain this, “What goes around, comes around.”
And more often than not, it’s true.
Why is that?
Because people are who they are. Someone who lies to you, tends to lie to others as well. A person who breaks their promises with you, will break them with others.
And sooner or later, it catches up to them.
They will lose friends, their position or run into any number of unfortunate events.
In one word – Karma.
And guess what? They only have themselves to blame. They are the ones who set their own trap and they didn’t even notice it.
You see people don’t change.
Sure, people COULD change. I’m not saying they CAN’T change. What I am saying is that more often than not, people remain who they are.
We all know people who SAY they are going to change their ways.
That they’re going to
- Get a job
- Work harder
- Stop smoking
- Not get drunk
- Be on time
- Remember our birthdays
- Fill in the information correctly next time
But as I’m sure you have noticed, many people have short memories. The fact of the matter is that, often times, people beg forgiveness for making a mistake not because they really mean it, but in order to get a pass this time.
Once all is forgiven, people go right back to their everyday habits.
That’s why we call people liars, cheats, losers or lazy bastards (excuse the language).
Because most of the time it’s who they are.
We don’t call someone a liar if they only lied once to us.
We use that word when people develop the habit of lying to everyone around them and we don’t trust a single word out of their mouth – that’s a liar.
Why is it that people don’t change?
I wish I knew. Faced with the prospect of death people still smoke, drink, eat poorly, refuse to exercise and the list goes on and on.
Most people simply don’t see the problems with acting the way they act, or doing the things they do.
But I’m living proof that people can change.
I’m still the fun loving, goofy guy from high school, but I’m no longer the lazy ass that I once was. I devote anywhere between 20 and 30 hours a week to studying. This on top of running my own business, writing a blog 3 or 4 times a week, and creating seminars.
These days revenge doesn’t enter my thoughts, I let the universe take care of that for me.
I invest my time into myself and my future, rather than those who don’t deserve my time.
Two quotes that I like when it comes to revenge are how I choose to live my life now. The first is by Frank Sinatra who said, “The best revenge is massive success.” Sounds good to me so that’s what I invest my time doing – becoming more successful.
The second I came across just the other day, “No need for revenge – Just sit back and wait…those that hurt you will eventually screw up all by themselves …and if you are lucky, God will let you watch.”
Time is precious, every second you spend thinking about how to get revenge is one that you can never get back. It’s gone and lost forever.
Life’s too short to think about the negatives in life.
Instead of planning another’s demise, why not plan your success? I guarantee you’ll like the final result a whole lot more.
Let revenge drive you to work hard, think more, be stronger, be better and achieve more. Strong emotions can be very powerful when used for good and revenge is no different.
Success is both revenge and a reward at the same time.
Two birds with one stone.
It doesn’t get any better than that.
Adrian Shepherd