"I am only the choices I make. My past, my present, and my future depend on what character I choose to embrace and what narrative I choose to tell."
I spoke with each of my classes yesterday about self-serving bias and the choices we make. Folks do enjoy taking credit for their success and blaming others for their failures. I think we get to choose whether we see things as failures as much as we get to choose to make poor choices. Making a poor choice and judging something as a failure are both mindsets I want to work on fixing in me.
I am continually working on the idea of seeing challenges in life as opportunities rather than setbacks or defeats or failures. That sort of mindset is a work in progress because of the tendency to get aggravated when life doesn’t go as smoothly or perfectly as I feel it should. I recently documented going through some struggles and having some mental setbacks. It is going to be an ongoing process that I am going to have to work with and work through. I am not going to simply make those challenges disappear. And if they were to disappear then what would be the beauty in struggling and growing against those challenges?
Life is difficult. I have to work at being a better person every day with every small step I take. It may be as simple as getting the routine to continue of getting my body and mind in alignment before I walk out the door and begin my day. It can be as simple as drinking enough water. It can be as simple as eating quality food every day. It can be as simple as making the best choice every time I get the opportunity to choose. And sometimes it is going to be difficult, sometimes life is going to be challenging and that is alright because it is life and life is difficult.
Embrace the whole experience of life today. Don’t just like the things you see as good BUT also take the time to feel good about the struggles. The struggles help shape who we become.
Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.
