Sideways Victory

A “sideways victory” is an expression that describes an accomplishment that the popular opinion may not fully recognize, but an accomplishment which those who can adjust their perspectives may see the value in. Imagine; the letter V sideways may look like < , > , ^ , or even another angle. In order to see it in the upright position, you must either turn your head or the screen/paper you are reading on.

Similarly, in life, some circumstances or wins may not seem desirable or victorious from one perspective, but upon shifting your mindset, you may begin to see the victory in the circumstance or win. A sideways victory is a situation that you may not originally be able to see the good in, but after some thought or a shift in perspective, begin to notice the positive in.

When the pizza delivery arrived, Kelly noticed that they had gotten the toppings wrong.

“We ordered chicken and bacon. This is sausage and bacon… What’s up with that pizza place?” Kelly said to her roommate Winona, who had ordered the pizza. Kelly was upset at first that their order wasn’t delivered correctly.

“They were out of chicken when I ordered, so I asked for sausage instead.” Said Winona. “It’s not exactly what we wanted, but they gave us some coupons for a free pizza next time and some free cheesy bread sticks.”

“That’s kind of nice I guess. Sausage isn’t so bad and next time we’ll get the chicken for free. I like cheesy bread. A sideways victory.” Said Kelly.

After thinking about it, Kelly decided that the sausage and bacon pizza was still good despite being different from what she expected, and that the coupons and free bread were enough to make up for the pizza place’s lack of chicken. It was a sideways victory, but a victory nonetheless.