Feeling Out of Control? YOU Have Choices!

Friday, August 02, 2013
Do you feel like things are out of control? Too many irons in the fire? Too many things on the 'to do' list? Not enough hours in the day?
Feel like someone else is driving the bus and you aren't liking the direction it's heading?

YOU have choices...

breathe

Stop whatever you are doing right now. Close your eyes. Breathe in, Breathe out. Put down your smart phone. Grab something to drink (ie: water, coffee, etc...) and take a seat. I want the next 7 minutes of your life...starting now...

Here's a gift I want to give you: I met a man who was a college football star. He went surfing and had a terrible accident. He woke up paralyzed from the neck down. That's right...he can't move his arms, he can't urinate without help, he can't dress himself, feed himself, make love to his wife, hold his children, etc...(I know...you're wondering what kind of gift this is...). I don't want you to feel more fortunate because someone is in a worse situation. I don't want you to feel that your troubles are less significant than they were 4 minutes ago. I want to tell you about Ron. Ron can't control what he wears, what he eats, when he urinates. HE has no control...or does he? If you had time to hear him speak, he would tell you that he has a single choice each day. In my mind, it's the same choice each of us have. That choice is the attitude we choose to have about the day. The rest of us are fortunate, our day starts with the attitude choice and from there we can make many other choices. Ron has JUST that choice.

Who controls our attitude? It's not our boss, it's not the 'honey do' list, it's not our weight, it's not our height, it's not the amount of money we have in the bank. WE control our attitude. We decide if we are going to be thankful, miserable, rude, selfish, greedy, etc...

If we choose to be thankful we will be gracious. We will be happy, we will be smiling. People will want to spend time with us. We will be thankful for the breaths we take, the people in our lives, the mornings we wake up, the opportunities we have.

Or....we can wake up upset about the weather being too hot, the mortgage too high, our boss a jerk, etc...and from there, we will alienate our friends, we won't attract the right people, we will surround ourselves with others who are miserable. Then...we are in a much worse position than Ron, because we will have chosen to make ourselves emotionally handicapped.

On that note - what's your choice for today? tomorrow? this week? this year? this lifetime?

Crystal J. Casavant-Otto is a church musician, business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Reedsville, Wisconsin with her husband, two young children (Carmen 6 and Andre 5), three dogs, two rabbits, four little piggies, and over 200 Holsteins. Crystal and her husband, Mark, are expecting another son at the end of September. You can find Crystal blogging at: http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/

11 comments:

Jennifer Brown Banks said...

I "chose" to take a few minutes to read this post amid my busy Saturday morning, and it was worth my "investment" of time. Thanks for the reminder about having proper perspective in life.

Cathy said...

Thanks! Attitude matters!

BECKY said...

Hi Crystal! Thank you for such a beautiful post. I feel the same way as you. Part of my blog name is "writer, humorist, bliss follower." I'm usually a very happy person: I smile, laugh, hum, sing (badly!), dance...and all that is just around the house! :) Life is SO much better that way. Sure, I've had sad, awful, stressful things in my life, and I do get down for a bit, but I always bounce right back. It's the way I want to be. Thanks, again...oh, and I'd love to visit your farm!

Angela Mackintosh said...

I needed this today! Thanks, Crystal. You are so right. Our attitude IS something we can control even when things are tough. :)

Crystal Otto said...

I needed this today too ladies and thank you for your comments. Funny story that goes along with this post quite well:
This week my hubby and I had a miscommunication. He thought the children were with me and vice versa. They were working together (positive, right?) and picking 72 un-ripe pears off our tree (negative :( ). Therefore, I began last night and spent until noon today making pear butter. 24 jars worth...NOT how I wanted to spend my Saturday, but I could have grumbled through it or laughed.

It turned out to be a fun project & I made the kiddos help. We added labels and now we have gifts for our friends and family! Another plus? The house smells like a gift shop!!!

See why I said I was the one who needed this reminder today? The post & the butter make a good pear...lol...pun intended ;)

Hugs,
-Crystal

PS Becky, friends are always welcome here!

Renee Roberson said...

Oh, yeah, I needed to hear this today, Crystal! I really do try to have a positive attitude most of the time but I do get overwhelmed and feel sorry for myself, which is silly. Things really are pretty good. Usually when I start wallowing too much, divine intervention comes in through the form of an assignment sending me to a summer camp for the blind or an interview with a woman with Lou Gehrig's disease who has started a nonprofit organization and I get straightened out right away and head home to count my blessings.

Unknown said...

You are very right, Crystal. And what it took me too many years to understand is that mood does not have to rule attitude. Just because I wake up in the morning feeling dismal, it doesn't mean I have to drown in that misery. It just means that I have to be firm in my choice. Sometimes it takes a long time for the happiness to come, but, for me, a persistently positive attitude eventually changes everything.

Margo Dill said...

I'm thinking maybe I should print this out and post it somewhere!

Wide Lawns said...

Thanks for a great reminder that optimism is always the best choice and for making me want pear butter now too!

BECKY said...

Crystal, do you have your own blog? I'd love to read more!

Crystal Otto said...

Becky,

Thanks so much for asking - I have a lemons to lemonade blog that I hope is similar to stopping over for a cup of coffee and a chat. Enjoy: http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/

Hope to hear more from you soon.

~Crystal

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