Rainbows, Unicorns, and How to Answer Difficult Interview Questions

Inside: How to answer difficult interview questions about challenges you’ve faced in your life and career without focusing on the negative. Listen to the podcast episode here.

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“You know what I love about you, Carnahans?” my mom said to me recently. “You can take what should be a really stressful situation and turn it into a funny adventure.”

And honestly?

Yup. That tracks.

Let me paint you a picture.

“Follow the Twins” – Starring Me and My 9-Year-Old

It’s midnight in a crowded airport. My 9-year-old and I landed 40 minutes ago after a 3-hour delay on our way to her gymnastics meet in Florida. All the gates were full, so we sat on the plane forever before they let us off — 15 minutes before our connecting flight was scheduled to take off.

Cue the full Home Alone moment.

We’re sprinting through the airport to a different terminal that requires a bus because the tram line is out of service. We are sweaty. We are carrying too many bags. I’m saying to my daughter, “It’s fine, everything is fine,” while internally screaming, WE NEED TO MAKE THIS FLIGHT, OR WE’RE GOING TO BE STUCK IN ORLANDO.

Ideal? Not really.

But along the way, we made friends with a mom, dad, and twin teenagers who were also racing to the same gate. At one point, the dad yelled, “Follow the twins!”

Like we were in some low-budget action movie.

Norah and I locked eyes, repeated “Follow the twins!” and started ducking and weaving behind the two tall blonde heads in front of us.

A week later, yell, “Follow the twins!” and we both dissolve into laughter. I have a feeling that line is sticking with us for years.

Was it stressful? Absolutely.
Is it now one of my favorite stories? Also yes.

Challenges Make Life More Interesting

If you rewind the Carnahan family highlight reel, you’ll find more stories like this:

• My husband on a ladder in a snowstorm, chipping ice off the roof while I was 40 weeks pregnant.
• A full-on mouse home invasion.
• The Bat in the Basement Incident of 2017 (capital letters required).
• Attempting to drive to Green Bay’s Lambeau Field… and instead ending up lost in a very random field.

These are not vision board moments.

But they’re the stories we tell at dinner. The ones that make us laugh until we cry. The ones that built resilience, inside jokes, and perspective.

And here’s what I’ve realized:

Challenges make life more interesting.

Not because they’re fun in the moment, but because of what they reveal about us, and what they allow us to become.

We don’t always control the situation.
But we absolutely control how we respond.
And we definitely control how we tell the story afterward.

We can laugh and make a plan. Or we can cry in the corner.

We can complain and throw a pity party. Or we can focus on what went right, or at least what we’re proud of navigating.

Some people might hear this and think, “Okay, calm down with the rainbows and unicorns.”

Maybe it is aggressively optimistic.

But this perspective isn’t about pretending things aren’t hard. It’s about choosing your angle.

And that angle? It matters a lot.

Especially in your job search.

Let’s Talk About Negative Interview Questions

Stressful, challenging situations happen at work, too.

Tough projects, difficult people, mistakes, and roadblocks.

And those situations are part of your story. A story you have control over how you tell!

While you may not be asked to rehash those stories on a regular basis, they can and often do come up in a job interview setting. That can look like these types of interview questions:

• “Tell me about a time you dealt with a difficult coworker.”
• “Describe a conflict you’ve had at work.”
• “What’s a mistake you’ve made?”
• “Tell me about a time you failed.”
• “What’s your biggest weakness?”

These questions feel like traps. Like someone just opened the door and said, “Please complain now.”

And you absolutely could go on about how Barb from accounting was the WORST, how your boss never listened, and how the project was doomed from the start.

You could.

But should you?

No.

Because here’s what interviewers are actually listening for:

• Do you take ownership?
• Do you stay professional?
• Do you learn?
• Do you grow?
• Do you focus on solutions instead of blame?

They are not evaluating how terrible your coworker was.

They are evaluating you.

The Reframe: From Complaint to Capability

Let’s take the “difficult coworker” interview question as an example with some sample answers.

Option One:

“They were negative all the time. They missed deadlines. I had to pick up all their slack. It was exhausting.”

Maybe true.

But that answer positions you as frustrated and reactive.

Now here’s Option Two:

“I worked with a colleague whose communication style was very different from mine. Early on, that led to missed expectations and tension. I realized I couldn’t change their style, but I could adjust how I communicated. So I started clarifying deliverables in writing and scheduling brief weekly check-ins. Over time, our collaboration improved, and I learned a lot about adapting my approach to different personalities.”

Same situation.
Completely different energy.

In that second version, you show:

• Self-awareness
• Emotional intelligence
• Initiative
• Growth

You demonstrate control over what you could control.

That’s the airport sprint mindset.

You can’t control the delay.
But you can decide whether you’re yelling in frustration… or yelling “Follow the twins!” and turning it into a team effort.

What to Do When the Question Feels Negative

Here’s a simple framework for tough interview questions:

1. Briefly describe the challenge.

Keep it neutral when describing the situation. No trash-talking. No dramatic flair. Lead with the facts and enough context to let someone into the story.

2. Focus on your response.

What did you do? What actions did you take? Remember, they aren’t evaluating the mistake or the coworker. The employer is evaluating how YOU handled it.

3. Highlight what you learned.

Growth is the gold. What have you learned and how have you used those learning going forward?

4. Connect it to the future.

How will that experience make you better in this role? Tie it right back to the position. Did you build up a skill they would find valuable? Did you build resilience or confidence that will allow you to be more successful?

Let’s try a “Tell me about a time you made a mistake” interview question/answer example.

Instead of:

“I messed up a presentation because I wasn’t prepared.”

Try:

“Early in my career, I underestimated the time I needed to prepare for a major presentation. The result wasn’t my best work. That experience taught me to build in buffer time and seek feedback earlier in the process. Since then, I’ve developed a system for preparing presentations that’s helped me deliver with more confidence and clarity.”

See the shift?

You’re not hiding the mistake.
You’re owning it.

And more importantly, you’re showing evolution.

Why This Matters (Beyond the Interview)

Understanding how to tell your career stories isn’t just about getting the job.

It’s about the narrative you build about yourself.

When something hard happens, you have two stories available:

Story #1: “This happened to me, and it proves everything is awful.”
Story #2: “This happened, and here’s how I navigated it.”

The second story builds confidence.
The second story builds resilience.
The second story makes you the kind of person who can handle and lead through tough situations.

And employers? They want that person.

They want the person who, when the project hits turbulence, doesn’t spiral.

They want the person who says, “Okay. Follow the twins. Let’s move.”

Key Takeaways

Tough stuff happens. In work and in life.

Airports. Snowstorms. Bats in basements. Random fields in Wisconsin.
Difficult coworkers. Failed projects. Missed deadlines.

You can’t eliminate stress from your life or your career.

But you can decide:

• How you react.
• What you learn.
• And how you tell the story.

And I promise you, the person who can navigate a challenge, extract the lesson, and share it with clarity and composure?

That person goes far.

So bring on the growth.
Bring on the learning.
Bring on the storytelling.

(But truly… no more mice. We’ve done enough with the mice.)

Did these tips resonate with you? Share them with someone who’s job searching right now.

And make sure to come back to whenmommygrowsup.com for more podcast episodes, more blog posts, and more reminders to keep chasing the rainbows, keep building your resilience, and when in doubt…

Follow the twins. ✈️