Ever wake up in a bad mood? Ever let a situation influence your mood for the day? Ever over-react to something that happened that was outside of your control? Ever catastrophize over a super minor inconvenience and let is seep into your communication, energy, and outlook for the day?

No? Just me? Come on, I know I am not alone. Let’s dive in!

As much as we would like to blame our crappy attitude and mindset on unfortunate situations and circumstances, the way we react and the outlook we choose is controllable. You’ll notice I said “choose” – it is absolutely a choice, and you have to own it.

Picture this. It’s Monday morning. You wake up at 6 AM. Everything is smooth sailing – you wake up on time, get ready on time, and by the way, you’re having a stellar hair day (IYKYK!) You get into your car and head to work. On your way to work, before you even reach the interstate, an asshole in front of you didn’t use his turning signal (what even are those things?!), which in turn makes you slam on your brakes to avoid rear-ending him while you are taking a sip of your coffee which spills all over yourself – OY VEY! Did I forgot to mention you are wearing your new white blouse for the first time? OH, and silly you, you forgot to tighten your travel mug, so of course, the entire mug of coffee is now on your shirt and pants. Awesomeeeeeeeeee! Well played, Monday.

You can’t control the fact that people don’t know how to drive (don’t even get me started on this), you can control what you choose to do next. You can turn around and go home, change your clothes, brew another cup of coffee, or stop by a Starbucks and then decide from there that your day has a fresh start and that you’ll be positive and happy. You can choose to have a restart or a “this day sucks” attitude and complain to every person you know about “why bad things happen to good people”. The choice is yours.

Unfortunate things happen all day every day – you get sick, your kid gets sick, your parent gets diagnosed with a serious illness, your car breaks down, you lose your job, your wife tell you she wants a divorce, you break your leg, and the list goes on and on. I used to be someone who let every little minor (and major) inconvenience or bad outcome of a situation outside of my control ruin my day and my mood. I wasted many days blaming my reactions, mood, and mindset on other people and situations. In an unpredictable world, we need to focus on what we can control and choosing to see the positive side of it. How do we do that?

You need to look at your environment. Who and what you constantly surround yourself with makes a tremendous difference. If you surround yourself with negative people and people who have toxic habits and lifestyles, that is going to rub off on you. Instead, surround yourself with positivity, health habits and lifestyles, and positive people who support you. Positive people experience unfortunate situations, too, but they still embrace the good in life. It’s an intentional choice.

Look at your life. Evaluate your environment, ask yourself some questions, and make changes where necessary.

• Are you surrounded by people who support you in your goals and lifestyle?
• Are you consuming content that makes you feel happy and positive?
• Do you have goals that excite you?
• Are you doing self-care practices daily?
• What do you do in your free time?

Decide what you are passionate about and what is important to you and build your life around that. The good thing about discovering what you want is you are able to eliminate what you don’t want. I can tell you from personal experience if you have physical health goals, going out and drinking with your friends every weekend and eating out multiple times a week is DEFINITELY not supporting your goals.

Here are some great places to start:

• Develop a morning and evening routine – Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning book is a great start! I read this over a year ago and I still implement the routines in this book.
• Find accountability partners – people who support your goals, will give you grace, are judgment-free, and will hold you accountable
• Unfollow accounts/people that do not align with who you want to be – in person or on social media
• Limit interaction with people who don’t support your goals or lifestyle. Set hard boundaries with them and stick to those boundaries – you will receive what you are willing to accept!
• Join a group filled with other people with the same vision and ambitions as you – there are so many great groups on Facebook filled with people ready to connect!

And, don’t worry, I’ve been there too. I never said it would be easy, but I know it’s worth it. Cue Miley Cyrus’ The Climb.

The choice is yours. What are you going to choose?

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RESOURCES:

The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod – you can also follow Hal on Instagram at hal_elrod
Miley Cyrus – The Climb