TUESDAY THOUGHTS: ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT

Some people come baked with drama, and always have. 

It makes you keep your guard up, because you know something will jump off at any minute. 

It's hard to be comfortable around nosy, provocative, pushy people who don't respect boundaries. Being in close quarters with them isn't exactly something to which you look forward, but you suck it up. 

Your childhood narrative says "Be nice, gracious, and polite", but it's hard. 

You want to say something, but nothing that comes to mind would pass the "ladylike" test.

I could feel my stomach tighten. 

My first thought was to make myself scarce. 

Not dealing at all--totally ignoring things and people is always an option. 

Save yourself! 

Just don't engage! 

History dictates that there will be fires to put out. History doesn't have to repeat itself, though. 

It only does, when we don't change our responses to the actions and words of others. 

Allow people to annoy, intimidate, and bully you, and they will. 

Our responses don't ever have to involve stressing ourselves by accepting, as normal, the disturbance of our peace.

We really do give our power away, too much and too often, to people who only seem important, menacing, or antagonistic. 

If we'd stick around long enough, we'd see that they act from places of weakness, immaturity, jealousy, or insecurity. 

Take your power back today. They expect you to run and shrink and hide, because that's what you've always done. 

The day that you look them, or it, in the face and speak up, you'll be amazed how dynamics change. 

Don't be surprised if you laugh out loud. 

You're a lot stronger than you think, and you always have a choice. 

Everything does not have to affect you. 

Shake it off.
 
Your problems, issues, and annoyances are valid and shouldn't be trivialized, but there will always be something that arrests you AND your thoughts and feelings. When you find out what's on the plate of someone else, suddenly, your plate looks like a gourmet meal. The revelation of the gravity of the problems in the lives of others, has the power to stop you in your tracks. 

There you were, on your way to feeling anxious, disgusted, exhausted, overwhelmed, becoming fearful, losing hope, making hasty decisions, and making snow-capped mountains out of molehills. Then you stop, turn around, and immediately reevaluate just how serious your stuff really is. 

You may have initially perceived it to be a pain in the neck, but that was before you had a virtual decapitation to which you could compare it. 

It may have seemed inconvenient, but you realize, you've got lots of time, and whatever it is will be gone before you know it. You get grateful in a hurry.

You felt tears; your heart was racing a bit; you did say, "Oh, hell no!", but all of that changes in a matter of seconds when you become aware of what you're not dealing with, and what is plaguing others. You tell yourself: "I've got this. I thought it was something, but this is nothing. Compared to what's going on with them, this is a piece of cake." 
Your attitude adjusts quickly. 

Your power is back where it belongs. 

Your eyes open a bit wider. 

You rethink your responses.

You learn from, and are empowered by the lives of others. Their circumstances sure have a way of altering how you perceive yours. That big deal really isn't as big as you thought. 

Yeah. It's still there, but it's manageable--extremely manageable--with one hand.