The only way to find permanent joy is by embracing the fact that nothing is permanent.
-Martha Beck (Finding Your Own North Star)
Theme: When shit happens…
It’s Tuesday, and I’m writing this week’s newsletter on my phone’s notes app from 37,000 feet.
I should be writing it from my parents’ home in Montana’s Rocky Mountains.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (this is in reference to my lovely Spanish friend Lucia who – several years ago – inquired what rock I’d been living under when I didn’t recognize a Kardashian in a meme😂), you’ll recall that there was a software glitch beginning last Friday that grounded a bazillion flights. For days. Anyway…
Saturday was supposed to be a travel day. I was supposed to see Symphony Under The Stars in Helena that night. I was supposed to see my folks and sisters. I was supposed to visit my old stomping grounds at “The Blackfoot.” I was supposed to buy the most perfect baguette at Park Avenue Bakery. I was supposed to peruse the tiny shops on Last Chance Gulch. I was supposed to…
But none of that happened.
Stressing about something that was absolutely out of my control wasn’t useful in any capacity. And so I let it go, chalking it all up to “shit happens.”
The takeaway for you…
The next time you’re feeling the urge to control something you can’t control or are feeling stressed because things aren’t working out as planned, consider what it would take for you to be able to let it go.
Maybe taking some deep, intentional breaths.
Maybe finding the humor in the situation. Or better yet, your thoughts about the situation.
Maybe try distancing yourself from your thought by saying, “I’m having the thought that [whatever you believe shouldn’t be the way it is],” followed by, “I’m noticing that I’m having the thought that…”
Maybe explore ways that this situation may actually be an example of life happening for you rather than to you.
Or maybe just get all perturbed. Stomp around. Throw out a few choice words. Shake your body. And then move on with your life.
That is all.
