It was the day after Memorial Day, a long weekend which I spent out of town, celebrating my best friend’s wedding in San Diego. I woke up, feeling out of sorts. I was a little tired, a little flustered, and a whole lot anxious. I overslept and missed my 6:30 a.m. yoga (aka sanity) class, I had plans to meet with our contractor to check on the renovations of our house, and I had work to catch up on after being out of the office for a couple days. Waking up to these decisions on how to start my morning, and scheduling my “tasks” for the day was making me feel uncomfortable and anxious.
I laid in bed for a few minutes, feeling confused and paralyzed by all my different thoughts. Where should I start with my day!? I continued to ponder whether I should go to yoga, go straight to my meeting with my contractor, or go straight to the office and get caught up on work and emails. My thoughts became overwhelming, and it became difficult to make what was seemingly a simple decision.
As I laid there, I decided to put myself in check and regain control of my decision-making abilities. First, I asked myself a rather simple, but very important, question, “What would make Mona happy right now?” The answer was simple and straight to the point: “Mona, go to the next yoga class at 7:30 a.m..” It had been 4 days of no yoga, and I needed it. My anxious-self fought me on this for a bit, suggesting how I should do the other things instead (meet with the contractor and go to work). I stopped the thoughts as best I could, and went to yoga. It was wha I needed. I made it to my mat–and again, the same thoughts crept up on me. I immediately realized that I was STILL FEELING ANXIOUS. This time, I decided to jump into the driver’s seat of my thoughts and tell my mind to, kindly, shut-up. Here is how I did it–with grace of course (we are after all, ladies):
STEP 1: MAKE AN AFFIRMATION
First, I made a decision that everyone would be fine, and it would be a good day. By realizing I have control over my feelings and thoughts, I decided I might as well use them to advantage. So, I set the intention that however the day unfolded, it everything would be just fine. Instead of focusing on the lack of time, or all there was to be done, I shifted my energy and thoughts to that of being content and happy, and well, having a good day. A takeaway Tip: Sometimes visualizing yourself lying in bed at the end of your day, with a smile on your face, helps to fulfill the desire of having a pleasurable day.
STEP 2: PRIORITIZE HAPPINESS
Second, I made a decision to prioritize my happiness. Happiness to me, in that moment, was going to my yoga class. That was pretty simple. So, why was I making it so hard to accomplish? It wasn’t the act of taking a yoga class that was hard, it was all the distracting thoughts in my head about getting to yoga, what time I’d be home from yoga, etc. that were causing me some stress. Once I let those thoughts loose and focused on what it was I needed for my happiness (a yoga class), it became pretty easy. I just got in my car and drove to class. A takeaway tip would be to never regret a decision that is based on your happiness. Happiness wins—always!
STEP 3: JUST LET GO
Third, I made a decision to just let it be. Why was I fighting the urge to do something I wanted to do? It was taking so much effort to sift through all the thoughts on how to start my day. Laying there in bed was not helping the cause either, because I was thinking too hard about each little scenario, and making a list of “what-ifs” from each of those scenarios. Phew. It was kind of exhausting. So, I just let it all go, let it be, and like I said, just went to yoga. Work was still there after yoga, and so was my contractor. Letting go of my control of the sequence of the day was magical. A Takeaway tip: Step aside, and get out of your own way. The more we try to control things, the more we get in the way of the natural flow of life.
I went on with my day, and the rest was history. And guess what, things turned out just fine.
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