Don’t forget to enter the Five Years From Now Blogoversaryfestathon Group Writing Project! And happy anniversary, Ryan!
In church on Sunday, one of the speakers was talking about what a difference a good attitude makes. He used an example from a Primary (children’s Sunday School) manual, which I’m way too lazy to try to find, so I’ll just paraphrase:
You’re moving and you’re afraid you won’t have any friends. How would having a poor attitude affect you in this situation? A good attitude?
The speaker left the hypothetical at that, but as I sat there, I thought through my answers.
- Poor attitude: you’re pessimistic about making friends, so you assume that people you meet wouldn’t want to be friends. You don’t go out of your way to meet people. When new people meet you, you’re shy or just plain unfriendly, and they can tell you don’t expect to make friends.
- Good attitude: you’re confident you’ll be able to make friends. You introduce yourself to everyone you see, you put yourself in situations to make new friends, you bring neighbor gifts around, and you look for people you can form long term friendships with. People see how friendly you are and return the gesture.
Your attitude can really dictate your reality. Both having a good attitude and a poor one become self-fulfilling prophecies. Having a poor attitude leads to self-defeating behaviors, while having a good attitude helps you come up with strategies to cope with the challenges coming.
At least half the time, I wake up in the morning already behind. My two older children are already up watching cartoons or playing on the computer, and the baby is crying for me to come get her. I’m not nearly rested enough, and I can just see the patterns of too much screen time, impatience and bickering starting to take shape.
But maybe I can make a difference. Maybe I can stop the downward spiral before it starts. Some strategies to cope when I’m already starting behind would include:
- Prayer.
- Plan. Come up with a fun activity at home or out and about, so you have something to do instead of veg in front of the TV.
- Eat well, maybe planning out meals and snacks for you and your kids. This sounds a little unusual, but catch-as-can grazing throughout the day contributes to that feeling of being out of control for me.
As I was drafting this post, I also came across a post by Jen from Conversion Diary on our steps for starting your day the right way—and she started out even further behind than I usually do.
What do you think? What difference does a positive mental attitude make? How do you cope when you feel like you’re starting from behind?