I decided in December that 2023 is going to be my best year yet. After all, I am turning 40 soon!!!
Of course, as life likes to do, the first order of business of January 2023 was to throw a big curveball: flights cancelled from Miami to Philadelphia less than 2 hours prior to departure, nothing reasonable for days, me needing to be back on time for hospital service and call, kids needing to go back to school…
Thanks to my amazing husband, we were able to drive back over two days. Even though it was not an ideal situation, the trip wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. My brain kept trying to throw me into complete and utter despair but luckily, I have been doing a lot of work on myself and I was able to tell it that everything was going to be ok after all.
Every time thoughts that made me really overwhelmed entered my head, I just decided that I did not need to listen. Whenever we slowed down for traffic, my brain would start telling me that we were never going to get home. Any time we had to stop, my brain was sure I would not make it back to work on time and I would never sleep again. As I write this out on the blog, it is quite obvious that those thoughts were ridiculous but let me tell you that at that moment, they just kept popping into my head.
As soon as I noticed these thoughts happening, I realized this was my ultimate chance to manage my mind. I didn’t try to put myself down because I had those thoughts. Instead, I spent a lot of the time of the drive having internal conversations. They mainly went like this:
Pam’s brain: Flight is cancelled, no flights available today, you will definitely never get back home and the kids will lose their mind. Everyone will hate you at work because you are not there.
Pam on purpose: I can see how you would think that brain, but instead, I would like to choose some nicer thoughts. For example, how lucky I am to have someone that will cover for me and that we have the option to rent a car today. Also, I love you and everything will be ok.
It may sound silly but it worked! Lots of conversations between me and my brain were had. It also helped that everyone else in the car was calm, too!
The car ride gave me the idea to write this blog today. I wanted to write about coming from a place of abundance. My brain wanted to tell me all the things I didn’t not have and that I couldn’t get. Instead, I flipped the script and started thinking of all the things that I did have and in which way everything was going so well. For example, we got a nice car with very comfortable car seats for the kids. We had an easy route with mostly good weather. We had friends that gave us advice on where to stay. We had phones that allowed us to book a hotel room. We had plenty of snacks and entertainment for the car. School did not start for an extra day. I had an amazing co-worker, who took an extra day in the hospital and overnight call.
My advice for 2023:
- Remember life is 50/50 and there will be good and bad things that happen.
- When bad things happen, it doesn’t mean your whole life is ruined and there is no point in enjoying the other half.
- Even when truly awful things happen, we still get to choose how to think about them. The horrible thing has happened, now how can we be the best we can be while overcoming this thing?
- It is ok to be sad, angry, anxious, or whatever emotion comes up but don’t let that throw you off! Take the time to experience whatever emotion you have but then decide on purpose what your next steps will be.
- Try to come from a place of abundance as much as you can. How are things happening for you and not against you? How do you already have what you want? How are you already good enough? Any time an unexpected or bad situation comes up, try to think of the ways you are prepared to handle it and not the aspects you can’t control.
Happy 2023 everyone! Also remember this is a made up holiday and you can do whatever you want whenever you want. Wishing everyone a year full of abundance and helpful thoughts.
