For as long as I can remember, I've always been a person who is extremely goal oriented. I always looked for something that I could put my spin on in every project, club, or challenge I became a part of. When I joined my fraternity, Beta Theta Pi, I didn't have that feeling. Why I joined was completely different than why I joined other organizations or did other things. The brotherhood aspect of the fraternity was what I wanted. Ever since I joined, I've gotten that and so much more. I couldn't imagine my life without the relationships that I've developed because of my affiliation with Beta. Quickly after joining, I wanted to get involved intricately with the organization and running of the colony. In that, the first challenge arose.

Beta is a newer fraternity on campus, and we have things that we need to do to prove our sustainability and gain our charter. I was, and still am, extremely excited by the prospect of being able to take part in that process. Throughout the past almost two years, I've been able to hold various positions in the colony. I started out working with the VP of Communications to work on our social media, then I became VP of Communications, and now I'm serving as VP of Programming. I've been honored and excited to be able to work my hardest to better our colony, but it's not exactly where I thought I'd be at this point.

At some point in the the last year, I thought I'd try to become our next president. Our last president, who is one of my best friends, talked with me about the possibility and what it entails. I was confident that it was what I wanted, and what I thought was best for our colony going forward. As anything that I wanted, I tried my best and did all of the things that I thought would prepare me best for the possibility that I would win. Fast forward to mid-November, and we were having elections. First on the docket, President. It was the big moment that I had been waiting for for months. The anxiety of the result was at a high, and then it came.

I thought I heard it wrong when it wasn't my name. Quick: slap on a smile, shake his hand, sit back down. My favorite part of award shows is when they put up the split screen of all the nominees before they announce the winner because I love looking to see who has a stank face after losing. Well, I certainly am someone that wears his emotions on his face, and I'm sure that my fake smile was probably not very convincing. The hours of elections dragged on, my emotions were boiling inside, and all I had worked for had been for naught. That night, and the next week after it, was not very good.

Being a couple of months removed from that night, I now have started realizing and being able to holistically look at the situation and what I learned from it. I've begun work in my new role of VP of Programming, and life is still going on. The world didn't collapse, I didn't spiral into a deep extended depression, and I'm now ready to talk about what I learned. Here we go.

Always, always manage expectations.

There's a line in Danny Boyle's 2015 film, Steve Jobs," that, despite the fact that I had seen the film before elections, now resonates with me on a deep level after re-watching the movie a few weeks ago. It's when Steve and his right hand woman, Joanna Hoffman, are preparing for the launch of the Macintosh, and Joanna says, about Steve's unrealistic sales predictions for the computer, "I'm begging you to manage expectations." It's a small line and a quick blip in the wordy two-hour film, but it now makes so much sense to me in relation to why I got so upset and sad about not winning.

My expectation of winning and beginning to achieve what I wanted to do for our chapter was way out of line. I honestly feel, looking at it now, that I treated it like I had already won, and the whole election was just something that was going to happen to validate what I had been thinking for the days and weeks leading up to it. I quickly brushed off people who brought up the concept that I might lose, which was a problem. I like to think of myself as someone who likes to work on teams and receive feedback and ideas from others, but in this situation, I did exactly the opposite.

I was extremely confident, but to a fault. Sadly, I learned how much that confidence being checked stung.

It's not over until it's over.

Closely related to managing expectations, I learned that nothing is ever set in stone, and until it happens, anything can happen. When I was wrapped in my dream world that no one was going to be able to beat me, other people were working hard as well to develop their ideas for what they wanted to do for our chapter as President. Instead of shopping for personalized presidential button downs and a new, nicer badge, I should've been working harder to make sure that I had my ideas prepared in a more communicable way. If I didn't have the mindset that I had already won, I probably would've communicated my ideas in a better way to my brothers during elections.

Also, don't plan the victory party until after you've won. It's embarrassing to have to call people who are already at the bar waiting to celebrate your victory that you lost.

Life doesn't stop when you're sad.

When all of this happened, I took time to let myself experience the emotions that I was feeling. I was angry, sad, shocked, confused, and lost all at the same time. Fortunately, I have some of the best friends in the world that helped me get through the experience. Sarah, Colette and Stephanie (Sarah's mom) -- thanks for being there for me that night and talking me through it.

That being said, I allowed myself to wallow in my pity for a little too long. While I still went to work every day, I blew off meetings, cancelled dinners, and just laid in bed. When loss happens and sadness ensues, it's okay to take that time to experience it, but it's always good to remember that life is still happening, and the adjustment of getting back into your routine is so much more difficult when you stay in bed feeling sorry for yourself for an extended period of time. Getting back to the work as VP of Communications, attending meetings, and various other things was a lot more difficult because I spent a few days in bed ignoring people.

Always have a plan B.

I was so sure that I was going to become President, I had absolutely no plan for what would happen if I lost. I knew that I wanted to stay on exec and help my fraternity become what we want it to be, so I threw myself in the ring for VP of Programming. That being said, I had no clue what I was going to do in the role. I had to quickly scramble to think of things to do for that, as well as in other aspects of my life. I was prepared to be devoting a bigger chunk of my time to Beta, and I had pretty much cleared out my schedule so that I could do that.

When I had come up with a somewhat decent plan of how I was going to move forward, I decided that I needed to do something meaningful for myself, too. While I love the work that I had done and continue to do for my fraternity and it makes me feel good, I wanted something that was a little more personal in my life. That's why you're even reading this article. I thought that I needed an outlet to express my feelings beyond talking to my friends. This is only my second article, but I am already feeling great being able to share my opinions and experiences with others.

There are always silver linings.

For the first week or so, when I was feeling sorry for myself, all that I could see was the negative aspects of losing the election. I was so focused on why I lost, what I did wrong, and the anger I was feeling for the person who beat me, that I couldn't see the silver linings. As time has gone on, and I'm in the swing of my new routine, I can see the positives that came out of the situation. I have more time to spend with friends than I would've before, I have less stress than I would've being President, and I have more time to be a more well-balanced person and not have all of my devotion be to one thing.

Following this situation, the realization of there always being silver linings has opened up my mind in all of my experiences. I just had a really close family friend die, and instead of getting upset about the loss, I just kept in my mind that she was in a better place and no longer suffering. It was really helpful for me to stay positive instead of getting sad and going back into a negative cycle.

So, keep in mind all of these things when something doesn't go your way. I truly feel that, and have experienced myself when subsequent things have not gone my way, if you keep these things in mind, you'll be able to navigate the ups and downs of life with much more precision and ease. And so the journey continues.