Today has been “one of those days.” You know the ones. You’ve probably lived more than a few of them. The days that start with high expectations, but somehow go horribly wrong? Yeah, I thought you might be able to relate.
I had an important project to complete today. It shouldn’t have taken long, maybe an hour. It was the first thing that I started working on this morning. I was excited to finally be making progress and getting it done! But that didn’t really happen.
My easy “fill in the boxes” type of project turned into a confusing mess of jumbled frustration. Rather than successful completion and celebration, I have more work and an unsatisfying waiting period.
Maybe part of the problem was typing in Russian when I don't speak Russian!
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Overcomer State of Mind
I recently posted about how Your Ex is not Your Next. In that article I talked about how it’s important not to let your past experiences negatively color your expectations of the future. Just because things didn’t go well with the last person, company, or experience, doesn’t mean that the next one will be bad too. Don’t prejudge.
I also talked about a friend who had negative experiences, but kept a positive state of mind. She didn’t let undesired events keep her from achieving her desired results. It took longer than expected and required more work than desired, she got where she wanted to go. She didn’t let the failure affect her long-term goals.
I really admire people who don’t let their circumstances affect their goals. They’re the ones who “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” They have the grit and determination to get through whatever life throws at them. They’re NOBODY’S victim. They are in charge of their own destiny and will not be dissuaded, even when it seems that everything is against them.
I Control My Destiny - Meme I made of Darryl from "The Office"
Control Your Destiny
There are some people who just wait around and see what life is going to bring them. If it’s “good,” they’re happy… for a while. If it’s “bad,” they complain. They’re victims of whatever life brings along. For whatever reasons, they don’t take the time or make the effort necessary to change things from where they are to where they should be.
If you let life’s circumstances dictate how you feel about life, or even yourself, you will be severely disappointed. If you let that disappointment change your outlook, your vision, you goals, then you’ve already lost. Those new goals are going to be negative and you’ll reach them… which will further drag you down. Stop the cycle now!
While I believe that “good” and “bad” things can happy to anyone, I won’t let circumstances have the last word. I will NOT live that way. I get to decide how things affect me, and I choose not to let it bring me down. I will continue on. And I’m even going to try to be happy while doing it!
"Whether you plan to fail or plan to succeed, you will reach your goals. Aim for something worthwhile."
-themanwithnoname
The Way Out
If you’re struggling with discouragement with the way things are going, then say something nice about yourself right now. Really!
Here are some great examples:
- I am strong
- I will not give up
- I will not be overcome
- I will continue on
- I will succeed
Celebrate Your Successes
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Good, now think of some of your own. Give yourself credit for what you accomplish. That will help you remember that you have control over some things already, so you don't have to be controlled by the discouragements and setbacks in life either!
- Didn’t go to work today, but you cleaned the dishes? Give yourself credit!
- Didn’t win the game, but you played your hardest? Give yourself credit!
Next Steps
Give yourself credit for the things you do, be kind to yourself, and set your mind on positive goals. Then, get out there and make it happen.
Don’t be distracted, don’t be discouraged, and don’t give up. You will get through this! Better things are yet to be… and you can make them happen.
Thanks for reading. If you found this helpful, please consider upvoting and commenting.
Note: Not life advice. The ideas presented here are for informational/entertainment purposes only. Do your own research. Make your own decisions. Use Wisdom if it’s available, common sense if it’s not. Seek counsel from trusted advisors if you so desire. Again, your choices are your own.
👍🏽👍🏽 I like your writing style, clear, concise, and sounds like I would expect if we were just chatting, good job!!!
Thanks, glad you liked it. I'm not sure I've got it down yet. Just tonight my wife made cookies. They were mouthwateringly delicious. I ate 7 of them. I told her my stomach hurt and that it was her fault for baking such tasty cookies. I told her, "yes, I do see the irony of blaming you right after writing an article on personal responsibility... but I couldn't help it. They were too good!" She just laughed at me. :D
good write up - I certainly know about days like this.. I was having of them myself... with so much to do .. it only takes a small hiccup to offset the rest of the day and push everything else forward.. usually the more important things.. but at the end of the day when I look back , even though I may not have gotten as much as I wanted to ... I feel good if I accomplished some of the things on my list and got one step closer to finishing. LIke I always say .."how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." ... but as my wife so eloquently pointed out the other night (unprompted I might add)..
Ha ha ha, your wife sounds like a clever woman.
Yeah, I feel you there. Sometimes you just have issue after issue and it gets old. Eventually a nice salad would be preferable to that elephant steak.
I like your perspective of feeling accomplished for what you were able to complete. That's a good way of looking at it.
I smoke weed when I need to get my mind right...
That's one of the benefits of living in Colorado, I guess! And they have a lot of Papa Murphy's Pizza, from what I hear. Who knew that weed would make you want pizza? :)
I suggest when on a project and things go south, all one need to do is to try and identify the problem then try to crave out a new strategy in dealing with such situation in the future.
That's a good way of looking at it. If there's a way to prevent the issue from happening again, take the time to build a process that eliminates the potential issue. Good thoughts!
Unfortunately, that doesn't really apply to my current siutaiton, but I do try to do that in other areas of my life. Thanks for the suggestion and for stopping by!
You are such a thoughtful person and I so much love to mingle with people like you that brightens people's idea. I will liketo share more information with you in the future.
Well, thank you! I try to be thoughtful. I'm glad that you take the time to hang out with me for a little while. You're welcome to come back and time. :)
@themanwithnoname that's a nice friend. Giving credit is good but we should endeavor not to be satisfied with the success we have gotten and when not successful, think of why you not be tagged a failure.
To your question , it's annoying when things don't go my way, most times it leaves me frustrated but at the end i come out better. Some missed opportunities at times is an opportunity in disguise. Am on steemit today because i had financial issues which resulted to me failing some courses in the university but some how today i am grateful i did not graduate last year from the university
That's true! We don't want to settle for less. I was focusing more on the fact that we also don't want to beat ourselves up for not doing more. It's the whole positive/negative reinforcement thing.
Missed opportunities can be chances to grow. It's rough that you had financial issues, but now you have a platform and a community where you can get (hopefully) even more than you had before!
Take care, buddy! Always a pleasure to have you stop by. :)
Thanks for always putting up an article i can always engage myself in.
I'm just going through life and encountering challenges and opportunities. Having gone through them or learned something, I just want to pass it on so other people can learn from my experiences and hopefully get through their own a little easier.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. It has the ability of helping others.
You're welcome!
Lots of positivity, I need that right now! I will try to implement this into my daily life. Thanks for sharing!
I'm glad that helped. I'm walking through it right now, so I'm glad that my experience can help impact your life in a positive way!
Are you noticing the effects in yourself or how other ppl interact with you?
I'm seeing the effects in myself. I have a more positive, can-do attitude despite the difficulties. I'm determined to overcome it and not let it crush me. Good question!
nice just upvoted an followed u
Thanks! Can you tell me specifically what you liked about the article?
I'm pretty sure it was the disclaimer they liked the best:
Except for the "do your research" so you know what spam comments are, "Use wisdom"and "common sense" so you don't use spam comments and "Seek counsel" from others here who might be nice enough to explain why spamming comments don't get rewarded.
Everything else, though. :)
I figured that if anyone would comment on the disclaimer, it would be you!
Yeah, they probably don't like that part because it puts personal responsibility back on them. They can't blame the author of an article about personal responsibility for not telling them to take personal responsibility. :D
I really like that line I came up with: "Use wisdom if it's available, common sense if it's not." Heh
Nice post.
Keep it up friend
If this is your idea of adjusting, you missed the point. You're not commenting on the material of my post, you're just advertising your own blog. Please edit your comment to something applicable to the material present, or delete your comment.
I am very sorry
Just trying to help you. If you do this kind of thing, you will get flagged. Please edit your comment. Thank you
Thank you very much for your advice. I will do dat immediately. Once again I am very sorry from my heart. Please how can you make your post to be know then if you are new on steemit. I need your advice cause I can consider you now as a friend
I recommend starting with actually reading people's articles. Don't spam comments. That will do more harm than good. And check out my posts on how to start out.
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Let me take myself for example. I am interested in posting poems in the poetry tag rather. What advixe can you give me about posting poems to be identified