The surest way to improve your mindset is to remind yourself that the world doesn’t revolve around you.
I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. The first day back to my daily routine after a week of travel, combined with a three hour time change that messed with my internal clock and I woke groggy and unmotivated by just about everything on my plate for the day. As I opened the shutters to let in some daylight to help wake me from my daze, there was very little light to be found. Instead, I found dark skies, a constant drizzling rain and gusty wind, bringing the temperatures down into the 30’s again. This meant I could add a cold and damp, miserable walk with my dog to the list of things I already didn’t want to do.
I don’t enjoy feeling this way; in fact, I hate it. As someone who has a sort of “hurry up and live” attitude towards life, these days really disrupt my spirit. Wasting days bitching and moaning about how tired I am or how shitty the weather is something I choose not to do. So as I sat drinking my coffee, contemplating what annoying task I would tackle first, I figured I would knock out a quick, heavy lifting session in the gym downstairs in my house to help turn things around. I know well how moving my body before trying to use my mind always gives me a shift in mindset. Some loud music, sweating a bit and being empowered by picking up heavy things always does wonders for my mood.
As I was loading up my bar to deadlift, a thought came to mind about a friend’s social media post I had seen a few days prior. He shared that it was day one of his daughter’s battle against cancer. He posted a photo of his family, along with his entire company standing in front of a score board with with a score of “01” under his daughter’s name and cancer with a “00” beneath it. Not surprising from a man I do not know really well, but one whose story is full of triumphant battles of overcoming adversity. Instead of just letting the thought fleet away, I stopped what I was doing, went to my computer and sent him a text. A quick message to let him know I will be praying for his daughter and how much his family inspires me. The simple act of letting someone know you are thinking of them has an astounding effect on how you perceive your own problems.
Here I was moping around because I was worn out on the tail end of a week’s vacation in a multi-million dollar beach house and the weather wasn’t quite up to my standards when I got back home and people I know are fighting cancer. Who I am?
As I was reminded by Sam Harris in a meditation app I am using, there are about 2 billion people in the world right now who would only hope to have the problems each of us are complaining about. Stuck in traffic, people not doing what they’re supposed to be doing at work, someone taking too long in the check out aisle in front of us, a plane delay or any number of annoyances we face each day, there are 2 billion people who would gladly tackle those issues.
Changing your mindset isn’t about external factors falling into place in order for you to feel good or have a better day. If that is what you are waiting for, you better plan to never truly feel joy because that is an impossibility. External forces are never going to change what’s going on inside of you.
Change happens when you stop thinking the world revolves around you because it doesn’t.