You have a say in how you are in the world

I have been through some things in life. While my life today is one that gives me a lot in all areas, I have lived a life where I had little. In fact, less than little.

I have had two significant marking points where I rebooted my life.  Once in 1996 and again  in 2006.  Both times I wondered often how in the hell I was going to get out of the massive hole I was in. In '96 everything I owned fit in a very small hall closet at my sisters house. She had bailed me out of jail to give me a fighting chance at fixing the mess my life was in during that time period. In '06 I found myself in the psych ward at Memorial hospital just trying to not want to kill myself for a day. Each of these time periods were hard. Harder than hard.

I have stories from my life that would make your skin crawl and give you pause. Give you pause to wrap your loving arms around a child and hope they would never have to experience what I and my siblings experiences as children. I have stories from my 20's that would likely cause you to think it's a damn good thing I was able to change my life; a damn good thing. Imminent death or a very long prison sentence was staring me in the face regularly.

With what we are all going through right now it gives me reason to reach back to those times and pull them up from my memory bank. I ask myself how I was able to get through that shit show. I think if I made it through those times I can make it through these times.   I choose, on daily basis to start the day a new.  You can do this too.  Each of the following are things I do to help me get through the uncertainty and constant change we are seeing every day.

1.  Control the things I can control. There are a lot things right now that I have zero control over. I am a planner and I thrive on knowing what is going on in my world.  Well guess what, a lot of that has been taken out of my hands. I have an application in for what would be significant promotion at my job. You know what I know now, that is likely not going to happen.  I am in meetings where we are discussing so many unknowns it is overwhelming.  Yet, even with the lack of control and the many unknowns I DO have things I can control no matter what.   My attitude is one of them.  I CAN make a choice to, at minimum, not stay in a negative mindset. I can choose to see the things I DO have rather than on the things I don't have. I woke up this morning; I am alive. I woke up in a warm house, took a warm shower, and ate food.  That is a lot to be grateful.  I CAN choose to have a grateful mindset. I have more choice than I might think in many scenarios.

2. Take each day as it comes. Really, when it comes down to it, we only have the time right in front of us. None of us know when our gig will be up in life. We can hope, plan, and strategize all we want, but, the reality is we only have right now. Sure, I should take care of myself, plan for my future, and hope that I am going to live a long life. That is the truth for sure. But, in times like these it can help to just take it day by day, I know today, the sun is coming up, it's forecasted to be beautiful day, and I can go outside and soak it in. I know right now, I am alive and well.   I can do today, I know that.   Take it day by day.

3. Find your outlet. It IS stressful times.  Make no doubt that I get worried and stressed with the constant change we are all experiencing right now.  I am concerned about how long this will last and the lasting ramifications of it all.  I am human just like you and I have the same worries and concerns.  That is the exact reason I have developed the habits to deal with that stress. I don't want to get back to the places I was in my head in '96 or '06....no thanks.   So, I have outlets to relieve the stress.  I walk every morning without fail.  I talk to people I trust. I laugh!  Yes, I find ways to keep humor in it all. You find yours.  Having healthy and positive outlets is vital to walking through times.

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