Here's the quote I'm referring to:
Trust me, I've been in some of the most horrifying situations imaginable, and I never lost my positive outlook because I chose not to.
Every day's feeling is a choice, and the decision about how you're going to handle it lies in your hands. Yes, each and every day. As an author, I can wake up and think about that negative review, dwell on it, let it worry me, and let it drag my spirits through the mud, or I can think about those positive reviews, let them lift me up, embrace them, and let those words fuel me through another day.
It's my choice.
If I have difficult things to navigate through outside of author life, I can either choose to allow them to overwhelm me, or I can think about how to slay them, turn them around and make them work for me.
For several years, I battled the lowest of lows. I'm sure many of you wake up and feel like the day is crap and all you want is for it to end. The mindset spoken of in the quote is how I pulled myself out and allowed myself to be a happier human being.
With me, I had this habit of staying in bed after my alarm and wallowing in all the negative things I saw in the day ahead, dwelling on my past mistakes, dreading what the day would bring. I turned it around by making myself leap (yes, an actual leap) to my feet and instantly giving thanks for all the things I had. I focused on one thing I was looking forward to that day and was grateful to have the ability to learn something new. Then, I gave myself "me" time, of one hour, to drink coffee and do something I enjoyed without thinking about anything else. That meant I had to get up an hour before anyone else in my house, but it worked. I wasn't stressed by the time I saw people because I'd started my day for ME.
Now, it's a natural act. I don't even have to think about being grateful; I'm filled with gratitude instantly.
I still carve out my time every morning (no matter what) because I know I need to do that in order to be the best me I can be.
Guess what else? No one gave it to me. I had to take it. With five (small) children at home, being a full-time student (22 hours a semester) that maintained a 4.0 GPA in one of the most difficult programs at my college, being the primary care-giver (also, maintenance man, lawn person, etc...) for my household, and dealing with a ton of medical crap, I still made it happen. You can, too.
Here's my task for you today (if you're not doing this already): Find out what that "thing" is that will start your day off right, and figure out how to make it happen for you. Make it happen each and every morning.
Find your happy. Take it. Choose what kind of day you're going to have.
Do you do any of this? What's your morning thing?
Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!
Jo
Great post, Jo, as always. I have been struggling with this after a seemingly stupid and minor injury revealed to be a herniated disc and I can't get surgery for some time because my husband just got laid off. Things should be really bleak. For my husband, I know it is. There are moments (Sometimes several times a day. Often unexpectedly like when I can't open a stupid jar of pickles because it twinges my back.) where I certainly feel the hits. I let myself feel it, sympathize with myself, and then remind myself that I am doing really well, considering. I can't hold myself to my old standard of expectation. I can't work 12 hour days like I was doing just 2 months ago. BUT I have managed to bring my work time up to almost 8 hours through vigorous PT and taking a break every hour to walk off the pain in my back. I am developing clever ways to do a lot of the things that I used to do so I can still feel like I am contributing to the household. For example, I had a rolling chair brought into the kitchen so I can reach the bottom of the fridge (for the most part.) and put dishes in the bottom part of the dishwasher. Yeah, those things take me three times longer than it took for me to do 2 months ago. But considering I was literally bed ridden a month ago and unable to lift anything when standing, that is a HUGE improvement. We spend too much time measuring ourselves against external stimuli and it is that feeling of failure and lack of success that makes us unhappy. We all need to be nicer to ourselves, for sure.
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