Turning lemons into lemonade

[Rob Monster]

From time to time, I feel moved to start a thread that I think might help one person in particular. However, considering the collective wisdom of many independent thinkers, this might also help others. This thread is about turning lemons into lemonade. As a self-described incurable optimist, it is one of my favorite topics. In my experience, the folks who figure this out early are better off than the ones who never learn it.

As context, on NamePros, I have met lots of cool people, some of whom have really amazing life stories. In fact, in 2019 alone, I have gotten to know many people here whom I now consider to be my trusted friends whose advice I keenly observe and in some of whom I now blindly trust. There are some folks here that are now practically family. And, yes, Epik also hired some folks here too.

To illustrate what I mean about lemons and lemonade, I will share a couple of examples that will be familiar to some NP members:

- Back in March 2019, a few people in the domain industry thought it would be a good idea to chastise me for protecting lawful free speech. This happened in blogs and also here on NamePros. I am not sure about their intention, but whoever was condemning me, ended up making me a lot more popular. In short, my response to being condemned was to engage with authenticity, and to let the crowd conclude for themselves if the manufactured consensus actually held any water. Well, many of you know how that worked out. Much to the chagrin of my harshest critics, Epik has gone from strength to strength as we co-create without care for who makes money or who gets credit.

- Earlier this year, Epik began to make significant inroads as a provider of escrow services for domain investors. The topic was introduced in a thread on NamePros, and within weeks, our friends at Escrow.com dispatched at least 6 state regulators to our doorstep. Although that process was time consuming, and even a bit daunting, we navigated those inquiries. One of the state regulators was kind enough to leak us the complaint. It fingered the instigator as one Jackson Elsegood. At one point when Jackson thought to engage in more of his nonsense, I let him have it, exposing Escrow.com once and for all. Matt Barrie got cute and he got a beatdown too! Our escrow business is booming, by the way and we are just getting started.


This is what I call turning lemons into lemonade. It is all about perspective. What are some principles:

- Be authentic: An early boss at P&G told me this: "First figure out the truth. Then explain truth." If you don't know yourself well enough to explain yourself, go fix that. If you know you screwed up, go deal with that. Acknowledge your faults. Everyone makes mistakes. Live and learn.

- Listen to your critics: Some of them are smart. They can teach you stuff, even if they don't really want to help you. The ones that point out your errors, probably never read Machiavelli who famously says to never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake.

- Try to find the upside: Is there some new circumstance that you had not considered before, consider whether you can accomplish something based on your unique situation. Most situations are not nearly as dire as you think they are. And indeed some things happen for a reason! That's providence.

- Find your tribe: Almost everyone loves an underdog. As long as you are not an unrepentant ass, people will come find you and share their wisdom for whatever you are dealing with at the moment. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. Humility is a great foundation for personal growth.


Here are a few simple examples that I know apply to some folks here:

- Spouse cheated on you? Be thankful, you are liberated. Learn from your mistakes. Up your game. Grow in grace. Have confidence that providence has a better spouse out there. Or go back, but on your terms.

- Lost a loved one? Consider setting up a charitable foundation in honor of what that person most cherished. In so doing, know that you are celebrating, preserving and extending their legacy.

- Lost your job? Perhaps that job was not right for you anyway. Assess your strengths and passions. Start a business, or find something that is more perfect for you. If you are diligent, it will work out great!

- Perpetually single? Consider becoming a Digital Nomad. Live anywhere for almost nothing and see the world. You will have way more stories to tell. I am trying to convince @franka46 to set up a Domainer Dojo.

- Sick or injured? Become an expert on personal health. Develop a spiritual practice. Make new friends. Let your light shine. Do you still think your life sucks? Listen to this guy:

The list goes on. I am sure everyone here has had their share of lemons. Curious to hear your story. If it involves domaining, even better!

 

[Cal2]

Two thoughts:

1. From a mortal perspective, the notion of a finite window to accomplish something creates urgency that would otherwise not be there, particularly as bodies and mind change through the progression of life.

2. From an eternal perspective, to die to self, crucifying the flesh, is a large part of what it means to be "elect" for the purposes of being a vessel for God's purpose.

My guess is that the author, when he wrote that passage, was focused on #1. History is full of secular folks who did great things who probably had a similar idea. For example, though not widely known, most of the founding fathers of the USA were deists -- moral atheists.

The more interesting scenario is #2 which speaks to notion of life as we know it being preparation and qualification for a version of eternity. The people who initially made America great were very possibly the Puritans who began arriving in 1630 and turned New England into the envy of the world.

For those who are already seated in heaven, to be called home will be lemonade. That said, a faithful servant should be in no rush to get there no matter how many "Lord, take me home" days they encounter.

Have a blessed day!

Thanks for the in-depth explanation, Rob. The author was a good friend I made online, and I'd say a 'moral atheist'.

 

[frank-germany]

For those who are already seated in heaven, to be called home will be lemonade.

but you do know that
the concept of heaven/hell
was not invented by Jesus
was not in the Old Testament and not in the new Testament
but was added by some priests later on,
they added fear to the people
in order to make people easy to be manipulated

and they succeeded as you can see even today



https://www.straightdope.com/21342992/who-invented-hell

https://www.quora.com/Who-invented-hell


http://30ce.com/developmentofhell.htm


"The concept of a hell of torment with these remarkable complexities did not exist before the church added the inferno, purgatory, and the limbos. It simply isn't in the New Testament, written in the decades prior to 110 CE. Detailed explanations of this development of the hell myth follow.
"

 

[Rob Monster]

but you do know that
the concept of heaven / hell was only invented in the middle ages ...

"

False equivalency there Frank. However, if you want to go there, sure.

People did not believe that they evolved from monkeys, who evolved from nothing, until the 1800's. The seeds were planted by Charles Darwin's grandfather, Erasmus Darwin.

Lamarck, Lyell and ultimately Charles Darwin then concocted the narrative that life is disposable because survival of the fittest will sort out who deserves to live.

Fast-forward 200 years and it becomes legal and moral to kill a baby at term - aka infanticide.

And, no, Frank, nobody evolved from a monkey. Most people actually have to college to be fully indoctrinated into that nonsense.

As for whether hell exists or not, I for one will prefer not to find out the hard way! As it is, there are places in this world already seem pretty hellacious.

Like you, I don't believe a lot that comes out of the Vatican. If you study the history of the Puritans and the non-conforming preachers of the 1600's and 1700's, you will see that the Vatican has been trying to control the narrative for a very long time. America would not be America were it not for Puritans arriving in 1630 from England en masse to show the world what life could be like when man put God first.

What's the lemonade? I believe eventually the moral line of what is acceptable will move so far into the crapper that people wake up to the consequences of living in a godless world. Perhaps that day is coming.

 

[frank-germany]

False equivalency there Frank. However, if you want to go there, sure.
..

And, no, Frank, nobody evolved from a money. Most people actually have to college to be fully indoctrinated into that nonsense.

As for whether hell exists or not, I for one will prefer not to find out the hard way! As it is, there are places in this world already seem pretty hellacious.

money?

I guess you mean monkey

yes you are right monkey and humans as they exist today are nephews

and that has nothing to do with my post
as little as the rest of your reply


so you prefer to believe in a pagan story
that was included into the story of the Christian churches
not before more than 100 years after Jesus birth?


just because it's safer?

 

[Rob Monster]

yes you are right monkey and humans as they exist today are nephews

If you want to believe that your ancestry is a monkey, be my guest. I prefer to believe that I was made in the image of God. (See Genesis 1:27).

The universe in all its complexity and perfection is very obviously the product of an architect. I don't judge you for believing otherwise, but having deeply studied the topic, concluded otherwise.

We'll know soon enough who was right.

 

[NickB]

Evolution / Natural Selection is a cornerstone of Biology - there is no if's and but's or fake news to the contrary.......

I would suggest anyone entertaining in not believing to look at the historical fossil records, read up on Biogeography, read why pesticide resistance is evolution in action - short video on it here

With the above you then combine molecular biology to map mutations by time and place to show when species diverged which links to fossil records and shows through DNA how certain animals are linked to each other - for example marine animals can be traced back to coming from land animals or how humans evolved from monkeys/apes which in turn can be traced back to sea based animals......

 

[Recons.Com]

If you want to believe that your ancestry is a monkey, be my guest. I prefer to believe that I was made in the image of God. (See Genesis 1:27).

The universe in all its complexity and perfection is very obviously the product of an architect. I don't judge you for believing otherwise, but having deeply studied the topic, concluded otherwise.

We'll know soon enough who was right.

It always gets me regarding being created in the image of God.

Could you enlighten why God needs a pair of hands, a mouth, eyes like ours, ears and... well let's not go there...

So, he needs the light to go through the lens and hit the retina to see something? Can he hear in vacuum if his ears are like ours? Is his body carbon based like ours and mostly water?

It is highly arrogant of humans to think that God looks anything like us...

 

[frank-germany]

If you want to believe that your ancestry is a monkey, be my guest. I prefer to believe that I was made in the image of God. (See Genesis 1:27).

The universe in all its complexity and perfection is very obviously the product of an architect. I don't judge you for believing otherwise, but having deeply studied the topic, concluded otherwise.

We'll know soon enough who was right.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1302617218056892417

 

[frank-germany]

anyway
we are just feeding a troll

 

[Cal2]

Since I sort of started this mess..

It is highly arrogant of humans to think that God looks anything like us...

So how else are Bible believers supposed to interpret it when it says that man was created in the image of God. (I have my own thoughts on it, but I'll see what you and maybe frank have to say.)

 

[frank-germany]

Since I sort of started this mess..



So how else are Bible believers supposed to interpret it when it says that man was created in the image of God. (I have my own thoughts on it, but I'll see what you and maybe frank have to say.)

Hey God is a black women

 

[Rob Monster]

Since I sort of started this mess..

So how else are Bible believers supposed to interpret it when it says that man was created in the image of God. (I have my own thoughts on it, but I'll see what you and maybe frank have to say.)

Relevant passages:

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. - Psalm 14:1

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. - 1 Cor 2:14

One plants. Another waters. God gives the increase.

Unless it is time for someone to consider that their remarkable self-healing, self-replicating, conscious self was the product of design, most religious ordinances will fall on deaf ears.

Some of us, somewhere along the journey of life, will have an "epiphany" or an aha moment where we suddenly have clarity about why the world works the way that it does.

Long story short: There is evil. There is good. Ultimately God controls both. That duality is what we get to navigate in the ultimate search for truth and the meaning of life.

I have no doubt that it is possible to be moral and kind without having faith in a higher power. That said, I don't believe there is eternal life without a savior.

For those trying to figure it out, there is a decent resource here that I think has sound theology and covers a vast number of questions:

https://www.gotquestions.org

And for anyone enduring a life with too many lemons right now, trust that those lemons can ultimately be for good, so hang in there, have faith, and see what happens next!

Blessing to all of you.

 

[frank-germany]

That said, I don't believe there is eternal life without a savior.

I guess that's bad news for you