Getting up a 5 am with only three hours sleep to take my shift to deal with my restless son, things can go two ways:
- I can choose the poor me, victim, grumpy, ungrateful or negative approach and download a bunch of unnecessary toxic energy on my own.
- Or, I take a positive mindset knowing it’s just a lack of sleep and I need to stop being a baby, or as Chopper Read said, “Harden the fuck up.”
When we fall into poor me mode, it’s only because we think we are the only people dealing with a little adversity.
This is complete bullshit.
Habit is everything, once I start to feel like being a victim I stop, readjust my thinking and write a gratitude list.
Reading the incredible book, Mans Search for Meaning, author Victor Frankl finds peace, clarity and a positive mindset living in a concentration camp.
By practicing gratitude and mindfulness he never allowed the negativity of the camp, the beatings, the deaths and the down-right incredulous nightmare of it all to become his reality, despite encountering the most insidious and unforgiving experience anyone could endure.
Always finding a way to shift his thinking, he managed to survive the insanity with a positive mindset.
Victor, like a lot of people who have faced similar situations, always believed you can cage the body, but not the mind or the soul.
So, the next time you are about to snap over something you will later regret and is probably not as bad as it seems in the moment, ask yourself these questions:
- Can I handle this with peace?
- Will I regret my actions later if I lose control now?
- Is it really as bad as it seems or am I making a mountain out of a molehill?
- What would Victor Frankl do?
Take the higher road, life really isn’t as bad as we make it out to be.
