Part 2 - Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Part 2

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Last year was full of chaos and upheaval for me.  One day I would feel somewhat happy and peace. The next day I’m in tears, angry, stressed, and breaking down.  Changes at work were a large part of that and trying to learn and find my place,  but so was Covid and all those changes as well. Towards the end of the year, I was in a meltdown...I was so tired of things changing and my inability to control what was out of my control. I generally don't set resolutions anymore -  but I decided my focus for 2021 was to try and let things go more, remember that everything is temporary, and also that my track record for surviving bad days and rough times is 100% thus far. 

I read once that life is a series of reboots, and I'm in the middle of one. Something occurred that caused me to take a step back and re-evaluate. So far, I've been successful for the most part - I have gotten pickier on what I allow myself to stress over.  Selective Stress Management, you could call it.

My personal care has gotten really good. I am doing a lot of things to take care of myself, which makes me excited. This does not come easy for me – my nature is to take care of everyone else first.  I bought coloring books and colored pencils off Amazon this AM (my retail therapist). I'm looking for other craft type stuff to occupy my brain. I try to walk a couple miles each morning when possible, and more on the weekends. I take a drive/roadtrip to somewhere nearby. I enjoy simple pleasures like my cup of tea while watching tv.. I am binging old comfortable TV shows that I have watched before as comfort food.  I've written (blogged) on more of this journey, although I am not ready to share that just yet.  This is where my mindset is these days. I am working hard not to stress where I don't need to. All this other stuff I used to worry about and obsess over really isn’t worth my health and peace of mind. You have to focus on what is really important. 

I am a different person  and in a different place in life than I used to be. The years of grief have moved me to a totally different place, and now as a result of my recent reboot…There is (mostly) a resulting calm I have not experienced before.  I have no room for toxic individuals and their drama in my life, and I’ve done my best to reduce that.  You could say that is part of my self care, too.  I’m in the healthiest mental place I’ve ever been.  

We learn from our challenges, if we choose to.  I’ve been on a path and journey for quite some time, leading me to this exact point in my life.  I embraced that there is a purpose to what happened. This has altered my entire concept and perspective of life and what is now important to me. What is worth stressing and obsessing over, and what is not. The most negative things of life, can and have been the things that have helped encouraged me to grow the most. I really needed this recent reset masked as a challenge. It has helped me in so many ways.

We can be survivors, grow stronger from our challenges and even oddly look back at the challenge, even while still in the middle of it, with a grateful feeling that it happened at all.   Because of the good that has come from it.

I finally see what Dad tried to tell me and impart for years. It finally clicked. As I once read, when the teacher is ready, the lesson appears.

Dad's advice:

“Don’t worry about the small shit, and it’s all small shit”