So if your life changed suddenly, what would you do?

Something bit me while I was sleeping last night and left me with a 3" rash on my arm.  So that was fun.  And also itchy.

On an unrelated note, I got to thinking about life, and what happens when it changes without your permission.  Generally speaking I'm going to say this is something most people don't welcome.  The unexpected changes seldom seem to be something good, like "I was a confirmed bachelor but I fell in love and now I'm so happy!" or "I somehow won a million dollars!"  They seem to be things like "I have cancer and about a year to do anything else I want to do with my life" or "My partner left me; now what?"

Observing my friends who have had radical life changes enacted upon them (for instance spouse divorces them, or dies) they have all seemed to carry on.  They have adjusted their lives to deal with loss, but their lives are very similar.  Same job, same house, same friends.  After a mourning period, of course.  But basically they keep a stiff upper lip and stay the course.

I don't think that would be me.  A) I am terrible at the stiff upper lip.  I'm a cryer.  I would cry, and carry on, and walk my dog in the rain, and generally drink a lot of beer and feel sorry for myself.  B) When one big thing in my life changes, I tend to reevaluate all of the other things.  Let's say my house burned down.  My first act would not be to find somebody to build a new house.  I'm thinking my first act would be to consider whether or not I really want to live "here" anymore.  Perhaps the house burning down is a convenient entree to moving to somewhere with a better climate.

And now that I'm thinking about it, there are probably other ways to deal with big change.  Probably if I had studied psychology rather than physics I wouldn't have to work these things out from first principles.  But then, I probably also wouldn't be aware of the concept of working things out from first principles.  And then where would I be?