Accentuate the Positive

Sometimes life can be frustrating; You behaved on your diet, yet you gained weight, You made a pact to finish something, and falter right at the goal line, or you planned out your day to perfection, but some emergency happened so that nothing on your list got done. 

The important thing is not these events in themselves, but how we react to them. Attitude matters- at least when you get your mind off the initial feelings of frustration!

But how do we do that? The answer is simple- accentuate the positive. Let me give you an example:

The event: I rode my bike to the gym today and it was spritzing out. I weighed myself, and despite having eaten what I was supposed to and in the amounts I was supposed to, I gained weight. Then I wrenched my shoulder while working on the machines. I had to cut the workout short and go home. 

My normal response to this situation would have pointed out every single negative and dwell on it. 
I was rained on. Twice.
I gained weight.
I hurt myself on the machines.
And now I have to ride home in the rain again, with a hurt shoulder, and I have a ton of stuff to do today I might not get done. 
Forget it- I'm going to play computer games all day and take a nap- maybe that will make me feel better- and maybe have some chocolate too.
What a rotten day!

I admit, after all this happened, that was exactly how I felt. I had to mentally stop myself from continuing down that road, rewind, and begin again, accentuating the positive. So now here is the same day, with a new twist:

I was spritzed on- I didn't get wet, and the water felt good because I was sweating as I rode my bike. 
I took a better look at what I ate and drank this past week and weekend, and realized part of it could be dehydration and muscle gain- maybe not all of it, but these could be a definite factor. I'll drink more water this week and eat more veggies, since our weekend camping trip was mostly meat on a stick- lean meat, but still not much veggies or fruit, an the camp water tasted funny, so we didn't drink much of it.
I wrenched my shoulder a little, but not so bad that I can't get anything done at home- I can do all the lightweight stuff and get the kids and my husband to help with the heavier things when they get home. And when it does hurt too much, I'll relax and catch up on my 'must read' reading!
I rode my bike home before it poured!
And chocolate still sounds like a good idea- but only one piece, savored instead of a feasting frenzy.
Not the best morning, but the day is getting better!

Wow! What a difference attitude can make!

This really did happen to me this morning- and I went though both of these scenarios. Good thing for me the positive one was the second one, because if it wasn't, you wouldn't be reading this post! I just had to share that even for a negative thinker (that I tend to be), you can still make changes in your life, one day, one event at a time. The important thing is to get started in a positive direction, and don't look back!