Wild cards in life are those people, places, or events when you simply can't predict what's going to happen. In general, I'm not a fan of wild cards and have created all kinds of strategies to deal with those situations.
As an educator, wild cards arose every single day. You'd start the day with a plan knowing that some unknown situation or challenge would occur, so you had a toolbox of responses for moments like that. The better your toolbox, the better you were able to meet your daily goals and deal with the wild cards too. The best strategy for dealing with wild cards at school was simply to take a few minutes to assess the situation calmly and make a plan with the people involved as to how to deal with the situation. Some teachers were better at that than others.
As a parent wild cards happened less often than in school, but as in school, I had a number of strategies to deal with wild cards. Most of those strategies were prevention strategies such as predictable routines, family meetings, anticipatory conversations, and more. This lessened the number of unexpected events that occurred when parenting.
Right now I'm dealing with a situation with a wild card--this wild card makes it difficult to plan or be prepared in particular situations. Acknowledging this wild card moves me to think about emotional and physical safety as well as peace of mind and quality of service. Just acknowledging there's a wild card in your midst, gives you the ability to create a toolbox for dealing with that wild card, a toolbox including boundaries, words, strategies, and supports. Often the wild card challenges are much greater prior to the ability to clearly define and acknowledge the wild card.
Sadly the current leadership in the United States is a wild card--the current Republican leadership in the White House is predictably unpredictable and in many cases unsafe, unhealthy, and destructive. This puts many, if not most, people in our country uneasy, worried, and on alert. This is not what good leadership does, and it's not a way to establish a strong, positive country.
Difficult and impossible to understand or deal with health issues can also create wild cards in people's life--some health conditions erupt in unpredictable ways which can cause havoc, worry, and unease in families and communities. Just recently on the news we saw a young man with bipolar disorder crying in court after he brutally assaulted a person and vehicle. Many mental illnesses when untreated create wild cards in the lives of individuals, families, and communities.
Life is not always predictable, but when life is more predictable, we have a better chance to live good, healthy lives for ourselves and each other. Onward.
