Starting From Zero: The Priceless Gift I Received From Loss

It’s not every day that you encounter a fork in the road; facing an insurmountable decision. Everything was about to change.

We had just spent a long weekend of rest & rejuvenation at the lake and were returning home to prepare for another typical week.

As we pulled into the driveway, I hit the garage door opener and watched it slowly raise up to reveal an empty garage. Only it wasn’t supposed to be empty.

It took a full minute of disbelief to fully grasp the situation and react.

My entire business was managed from that garage. But now, all of the tools, equipment, and inventory were gone. Not to mention the personal possessions and family heirlooms that had also made their exit.

As my thoughts raced from insurance claims to notifying employees to getting things back up and running I eventually realized what I needed first was advice.

One Simple Proverb

When faced with setbacks in life, my default response was to bring things back to where they had been; replace items that broke, rebuild savings after an unexpected expense, etc.

But this time was different.

The next day, I met with one of my mentors; the man whose advice helped me build my business.

Our talk yielded 2 valuable lessons that continue to guide me fifteen years later.

First, he told me a story about a similar setback he faced and its eventual positive outcome. His situation reminded me of the Chinese proverb about The Man Who Lost His Horse.

It tells the story of an old farmer who loses his horse, which leads to a good outcome, which leads to a bad outcome, and so on. The aftermath of each event remains unclear whether they are good or bad until enough time has passed.

This simple proverb shows that good and bad luck are intertwined, and that it’s hard to judge the actual consequence of any event in the short term.

What looks bad in the moment may in fact lead to something good in the future.

Starting From Zero

The next thing we discussed was starting over, or what I later came to know as the concept of Zero-based Thinking.

Zero-based thinking is where you imagine starting over, with your current knowledge & experience, and asking a simple question: “Knowing what I now know, would I do this again if I had to start over?”

This simple concept challenges you to see new possibilities instead of recreating the past.

When I looked at my situation, I realized that there were quite a few things that ‘knowing what I now know’ I would do differently.

This simple question helped me envision the future I actually wanted, and showed me that the path I was on just a few days ago was leading somewhere entirely different.

The Silver Lining

What I had previously seen as a disaster now seemed like an opportunity. This external shock caused me to reevaluate the large portion of my life that was on autopilot.

While every negative situation in life may not have a silver lining, they do present us with a chance to pause and reflect.

It may be that we were not living intentionally, that we didn’t appreciate the personal possessions or even the people in our life.

Misfortune can be a wake-up call; a way of noticing that we weren’t noticing. It presents the possibility of correcting these errors moving forward.

As much as we may want to avoid change and discomfort, there is no avoiding it. The one constant in life is change.

A Priceless Gift

When the dust finally settled, the next steps became clear. I was ready to move forward, but in an entirely different direction.

I took stock of my old business; the good, the bad, and the ugly. The task ahead was to start from zero, and build the life I truly wanted.

Looking back with hindsight, it’s kind of funny to think that I was upset as I watched the garage door slowly open all those years ago.

Had I realized the unexpected opportunities that would arise and the bright future ahead, I really should have been celebrating.

Live Without Regret

If there’s one thing to takeaway from my story, it would be to ‘live without regret’ and open yourself up to the new chapters and opportunities that await you on the other side of change & hardship.

If you immediately label your situation as ‘bad’ and hold on to that belief for too long, you can close yourself off to the possibility of a new beginning, stronger connections, or even nicer belongings.

Use that inevitable change as a wake up call; a reminder to be present throughout the day, keep those you care about top of mind, and always be looking ahead to that brighter future.

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About the Author: Patrick is a musician, pinball enthusiast, and Senior Editor at Tastefully Minimalist, where he publishes articles aimed at helping you curate your own ‘version’ of minimalism.