My Attitude.

Warning: I've been meaning to tell y'all about our great little adventure last weekend, but I keep getting distracted by issues with positivity and perspective. I can't help it. It's like I'm some self-help guru or something.




Somewhere along the lines I've picked up the mantra Choose Your Attitude. Come to think of it, I'm sure the saying came from camp.

It's true too. You can choose your attitude. Every day. Every situation.

At camp we have another saying - and it's really cheesy. Get ready for it...Everyone's a winner!

Think about it. We don't have losers. You just didn't win.




My boss likes to say that while we haven't won every game, we have never lost a game.

After not winning a basketball game we might say something to this effect:

We went out played a great game today and put up our best effort. We didn't come out on top, but we had a great game! 

See what I'm saying? Definitely didn't win.




There is a big difference between not winning and losing.

Perfect example - An observation at work today didn't go as well as I hoped it would.

TC, being the wonderful husband that he is, came walking through the door this afternoon with a beautiful bouquet of daisies. The note read "I'm sorry your day wasn't stellar."

Like how he spun that? He could have easily written a card that said "Sorry you had a bad day!" or "Bummer that your day sucked."




Here's the thing - neither of those super negative lines would have been accurate. Remember, I choose my attitude and I chose to have a less than stellar day. Why would I choose to have a bad day when I could have a less than stellar day? Why would we incorporate the word bad in a card when we can incorporate the word stellar and still get our point across?

Actually, why would I choose to have either of those days at all? Instead, I had a good day with a minor glitch in the morning.




Another example - Before I run or workout I obsessively put Chapstick on first. Today, I forgot.

Two ways to think about this:

1. Crap. I forgot my Chapstick. This is gonna suck.

2. I forgot my Chapstick, I'll have to remember it tomorrow. 

Either way, you have no Chapstick. Either way, you're going to finish your run. Either way, you're going to remember Chapstick tomorrow. You might as well choose your attitude and choose the second option - it's much happier, right?

Anyway, this is what I thought about tonight as I ran around town with no Chapstick on, in case you were wondering. I told you, I'm like a self-help guru these days.

But seriously, try it out! Try replacing those ugly words with happy words.

10 points for using the word stellar today!

Oh, and if all else fails, buy yourself some daisies. They make even the best of days that much better.