Keep The Change
Here is a little story about turning lemons into lemonade. A little over a year ago, I lost a very close friend of mine due to an illness. I researched, planned and did whatever I thought I could do to try and help her. After a short battle, I just couldn’t change what was in the cards.
There are some things you just can’t change, no matter how unfair they may be or how hard you try. But, you CAN change what these events mean to you. It’s an incredible power, which gives you total control over your life. If you can’t change what is happing to you, you can surely change what it means to you.
It’s not easy at first, it will take some practice and discipline. Your mind is like any other muscle in your body, it gets stronger with repeated action. By flexing your mental muscle, it will get easier to “look at the bright side” of things.
In the case of my beloved friend, I was very upset and began blaming myself, God, the doctors, etc… It was an extremely powerful feeling of sorrow that I knew I had to change or I would fall into a deep depression. I took this negative feeling and began focusing my energies on my current situation. What did I not like about it? Well, I was not that happy with my job, the city I lived in, or my current state of health. I decided at that moment that was going to change everything in my life that I was not satisfied with. I felt that dealing with the passing of my friend would be easier if I could begin on positive changes in my own life. Life will make more sense when energy is not spent blaming others, but rather concentrating on how changes to certain feelings will fix the problem.
After just a year, I have obtained a great new job in a fun and exciting city, received a promotion, dropped 12 lbs, furnished a house, paid off nearly all my debt and recently married a beautiful woman. Life has gotten a little easier, although. I still miss my friend very much, but the unfairness of the situation has taken a backseat to the good times that I remember more clearly now.
The point is that life will change in ways that you don’t initially want it too. But, welcome it with new eyes as you control what these changes will mean to you. You have the power of how these changes will affect you. It takes practice and in some cases, a lot of reminding yourself of what you’re trying to accomplish. Strengthen those mental muscles and they will get stronger. It’s an unlimited power that you can give yourself.
The positive changes in my life have helped me deal with an extremely negative experience that could have easily gone the other way, if I l let it. It was much harder not to, but in the end it was well worth it.
“When faced with a decision to make, the harder one to make is usually the right one.” – The Negotiator