Daily Resilience
A single event under a mental microscope can make 10 bad minutes look like an entire life of bad fortune, but please, zoom out. 600 seconds is only 0.694% of a single day of 86,400 seconds. Adjust your perspective to see how positive your day and/or your life is and can be. Even in the light of a history of negatives, an unlimited future you have power to shape waits for you to push through. For my first thoughts, I reflect on an 8-hour journey to a new resolve. Recovery does not come fast or easy and subtle effects of any stress last. My hope is that tomorrow morning, I am recovered and ready for my next set of challenges.
Today as many of us experience, I faced conflict, an attempt to resolve that conflict directly, opposition, unresolvable disagreement, venting, diffusion, and now finally at the end of the end of the evening, acceptance, and peace. I did not go through this journey alone today; I am lucky to have family and loved ones around me who helped push me through each step. Find your tribe and support system. Much of the source of conflict at work and in our personal lives is because of differences among people built on their histories and current individual challenges dynamically shaping them. There is beauty and joy in diversity, though, so we must learn, develop, and grow in our micro-communities.
Today “at” work, I felt frustrated, limited, belittled, unheard, and fell short of many goals. However, right now, I am focusing on all I did accomplish, the people who gave me inspiration and appreciated me, and the most important things that have nothing to do with work at all, my family and our health. Tonight at home, I will let go of trying to change external things, and focus instead on what I can do. It certainly sounds so easy, doesn’t it? It’s a mental effort, even as I write this. Tonight, I: write this, listen to calming music, open my patio door and set my armchair next to it in a dim room, and listen to rain while I breathe in deeply the incredible smell of a rainy, spring evening. I focus on one of my favorite moments of today - when my 3-year-old son was rubbing his 1-year-old sister’s back as they watched a show and he told me I didn’t have to do that tonight, because he was already doing it. I have succeeded everyday in showing my young children love, care, and thoughtfulness and they know and show me they have seen it.
Lesson learned: “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” – Mark Twain
Onward and upward as my wonderful mentor and friend always says: “Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life.” – Mark Twain Tomorrow, I hope I make people around me feel great, empowered, inspired, and invincible.
© Elaine C. Lee, please do not copy, reuse, or repost without permission and acknowledging ecleelab.com
