There is a remark that people make when they encounter some situation that gets in the way like a rock: It is was it is, they say and sigh. Well, of course it is what it is . . . for now; the question is what are you going to do about it. Sometimes you have to study it, think about it. and maybe if this “is” is always going to be this “is”, then how are you going to negate it or, just possibly, use it to your advantage.

You have to keep your head, think it through and remember a poetic line from John Dryden I’ve quoted before:

“I am sore wounded but not slain
I will lay me down and bleed a while
And then rise up to fight again”

It comes down to character; it always has.