Do you find yourself wanting to just “do” something when everything seems to be falling apart? When the panic sets in do you freeze up or, if you’re like me, do you find yourself in a frantic state doing everything that comes into your mind in hopes that you can gain control. It took me a long time to realize that all that doing was my undoing.
When something in our life seems to be out of control… or at least out of our control… our need to be in control kicks into high gear. There are just some things in life that we cannot control. An “act of god,” another person’s actions or illness and the decisions of governments, businesses or organizations we aren’t actively involved in… are all examples that come to mind. Still every one of these changes lives.
In the last five years I’ve dealt with sudden death of a my dad, Jack’s life threatening illness and my company being acquired. I can’t even begin to tell you how helpless those events made me feel… and how my panic in each case resulted in my taking action that didn’t help. Yes, hindsight provides clarity about the event, however, why not use it to also provide new guiding principles for your life?
What worked? What didn’t work? What’s important to you? These are all good questions to ponder after your panic subsides. How did your action during these times pan out? Some worked, some didn’t. If you can take just a few moments of your time to think about it you can set yourself up to have a bit more control when the next event triggers your panic mode. When you realize what worked and didn’t say it out loud to yourself. But don’t stop there, add the statement, “When I get into a panic mode again I’m going to stop and remind myself of what I learned from the last time.”
We can learn from absolutely everything we do in life. Choosing to do so moves you onto solid ground. And from there you can do anything!
With love, Cheryl
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