Ugh…stress
I’ve been struggling to focus lately. I’ve been super stressed at my corporate job and about my sweet little pupper. It’s not an excuse, it’s just what I’ve been distracted by. The stress has led me to feel tired a lot the last 2-3 weeks no matter how much sleep I get. I’ve been inconsistent. I took a step back today and let myself feel what is going on in my head. I wrote it all down, just got it out and onto paper. Yes, I still write on paper with a pen 🙂I looked at it all and said to myself, “Ok Brittany, what can you control here?” So I marked off everything I couldn’t control: co-workers, lack of efficient processes, lack of support, Trinity’s cancer and lack of appetite and so many more things.
And here I am on repeat but what can I control? Myself - actions, inactions, reactions, attitude, mindset. Same things as always.
The writing down and figuring the controls out is a normal process for me when I feel myself focus on the uncontrollable. Nowadays, it doesn’t take as long to work through and many times I can mentally make the list, cross things off and move forward with what I can control. That works for me because I am deliberate with my thoughts. I do not let my emotions define me. We all have them and emotions are perfectly fine! It’s when they take over that it becomes an issue. As I have written before, emotions are there to make us aware. Aware of what? It depends on what the situation is. But it boils down to remembering what you can control and not trying to control those externals. It will drive you crazy and lead to deeper feelings of anger, fear and resentment. Those are also feelings that are making us aware we need to do something. They can just be a bit harder to get out of that metaphorical emotional hole we dug ourselves into.
Remember, emotions are neither good nor bad. They make us aware and they are either useful or not useful (see my previous blog: Thoughts - Useful or Not). Those thoughts/emotions I crossed off my list are not useful. The crossing off of them is my way of saying get the hell out of my head. Those ones still on the list are useful and are what I can control and take action on.
I posted about this today but want to reiterate a few things I do when I feel my thoughts ruminate or get down about things I absolutely cannot control.
💜Pause, breathe, don’t act right away
⛰Drink water and fuel your body well
💜Write down (or think about) what I’m feeling and what it’s making me aware of
⛰Feel it, really sit with it
💜Think about what you can learn from the feeling and awareness
⛰Focus on the present and on the good…get that negative shit out
💜And remember whatever emotion you are feeling, doesn’t define you. Just because your emotions run high doesn’t mean they can control your actions.
Good effort. Positive attitude.💜⛰
