Or maybe we make it that way.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot – do I overcomplicate my life? Do my thoughts make things more – or less – complicated than they need to be?
Since my dad died in July I have found myself in the middle of some unpleasant situations. Some related to his death. Some totally unrelated – like dealing with neighbour issues. I have been slowly eliminating things from my life that are net negative.
On Sunday morning I had a discussion with a neighbour. Without getting into the details, I found myself paraphrasing Shakespeare, and saying:
Nothing is until we make it so. We are the ones that attribute good or bad to situations. We are the ones who create issues when in fact no such thing exists. We perpetuate the negative. And equally we can choose to focus on the positive, and to enhance life rather than to seek to bring others down and to create a negative, gossip ridden existence. Nothing is unless we make it so.
Throughout 2015 I have experienced time and again how my thoughts shape the lens through which I experience life.
Take for example the ITU Open Paratriathlon World Championships. I was absolutely DELIGHTED just to be there. With the verdict that I received in 2013 to stop triathlon immediately. With the hell I went through in the summer and the time away from training after my father’s death. With all that happened, getting to the start line was my victory, and finishing was AWESOME.
I placed third in my category.
And I was over the moon.
Now, does it change your perception of my achievement when I tell you that I was three out of three? That my time was the second slowest in the entire field? Or do you continue to celebrate with me, because my achievement defied all of my expectations, because my race was one of the bright spots in a year that brought me so much pain and sadness?
How we think makes and shapes our reality. We define our life.
I choose the path of positivity. I make my life so.
To quote Hamlet:
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
