This is so true. There is not much we can control in life. We don’t choose which family to be born into, with all the implications, financial and emotional. We don’t choose what society to be born into. We don’t choose what the economy will do, or the stock market.

However, we can choose how to play the hand we’re dealt in life. Sometimes that hand will lead to a bad place no matter how you play it. However, sometimes you can turn a losing hand into a winning game. But only if you pay attention and do your best.

A saying I love tells us that good fortune is when opportunity meets preparedness. If you’re cynical, you won’t be prepared to take advantage of opportunities that show up. Then you’ll truly have nobody to blame but yourself.