*Snap!*
*Pop!*
“OUCH!”
A couple of years back I was playing a game of pick-up basketball and snapped a ligament in my right knee. With the inevitable 9-12 months rehab process awaiting me after surgery, you can imagine how devastated I was. However, despite feeling down I realized that nothing could change the fact that this happened. This incident presented me with an optimistic opportunity:
Either I could play victim to the injury or I could make the most out of the situation.
I decided to accept this optimistic opportunity that life seems to give us all from time to time. I soon became more and more enamored with the idea of “my own personal comeback story” and started the process of taking each day one step at a time.
Eventually, this process helped me realize
My negative feelings weren’t the result of the injury itself, but rather, my perception of the injury.
This changed everything for me.
Thankfully, we can begin changing our perceptions in many areas of our lives. For instance:
Instead of:
“I can’t believe I failed my certification exam again”,
How about:
“Now I get an opportunity to study and gain an even greater understanding of the material than if I had passed this time around.”
Instead of:
“I can’t believe my girlfriend broke up with me”
How about:
“Now I focus 100% on my mental, emotional, and physical well-being so I can attract someone even better down the line.”
What about the optimistic opportunities in your everyday health and fitness?
- Are you a hopeless overweight, or “a continuous work in progress”?
- Is exercise consistency hard, or “something that takes time to develop a little bit each day”?
- Did you “fail” to complete your treadmill time, or take “small, positive steps towards your goal”?
You decide!
Key Takeaways:
- Disappointments are opportunities to change your perception
- Negative emotions come from negative perceptions (not the circumstance itself)
- You decide the perception of your situation
