One of the biggest challenges I have is learning to change my way of thinking quickly when I am focused on one topic and something else grabs my attention. I have been spending the past few days paying attention to my thought patterns and learning new ways to adapt so that my frustration levels are lower. Here are some key points that I noticed:
Negative Thought Patterns
When I get stuck in a negative thought pattern and start to feel down, the best way to get over it is to go out and do something. To avoid needless spending of money, I find that going to the gym is the best fix for this. Once I motivate myself to get out the door and I am at the gym it is worth it.
One Event at a Time is OK
Talk about one of the biggest issues for me. I have always been the type of person who feels like I have just enough on my plate if I have one event planned for the day. If I have more than one event I feel rushed at times or overwhelmed. I feel like I don’t have enough time. An event in my book can be anything from going out to dinner or going to the gym. I am learning to accept this is ok. I realize sometimes more than one event may occur and I may feel overwhelmed. I can’t let this feeling control how I react, instead I need to observe why I feel overwhelmed and then make a decision to determine why I react the way I do. Identifying why I feel overwhelmed is a great place to start. The biggest hurdle for this is letting myself be ok with only have one event and not getting worked up about it if I have to sacrifice something else that is causing me stress.
Not Doing What I Set Out to Do or Planned
Like the one event at a time issue, this again is something that I have to learn how to accept. Sometimes I may not be able to make it to the gym because I consciously made the decision that I was not going to go. No one else made it for me or forced me not to go. I need to learn how to accept the decision and not beat myself up over it if I don’t do something that I had planned on.
This is starting to become a bit easier. For example, I didn’t get my closets organized like I had planned. Instead of beating myself up over this, I realized that I got a lot of other things accomplished instead. Plus I will come up with a game plan for organizing my closet, maybe do it in small chunks. I could do one shelf at a time instead of both of the closets in one day. Small steps will lead to big achievements, I think.
Task lists are great ways to help with this. When I feel like I didn’t accomplish what I set out to do, I take a look at my task lists and my list of completed tasks. When I see the list get bigger I know I am accomplishing things. Even if I didn’t accomplish everything or the “big” thing I wanted to accomplish for the day, I am still accomplishing other things.
Adairmoon 