The Stories We Tell Ourselves
If you don't mind, I'm going to get a little deeper than normal today. The subject for this post has been bouncing around my head for a little while now.
I don't know about you, but my head often tells me stories about myself that aren't always 100% true. Since I was young, I have fought to maintain a decent self esteem. I don't blame it on any one piece of my childhood, but likely some of it stems from being a "fat kid" during some of my younger years. Memories of extended family members and classmates talk about my weight to my face still sting a little bit. In reality, I wasn't that fat. I was chubby at most.
Alas, I've fought that battle and would like to think I won. Running has no doubt transformed me and made me more confident in my abilities than anything else.
But when I'm feeling vulnerable, I let my mind wander to mistruths if you will. I start telling myself mistruths about my career, my personal success, my future, our financial goals {dreaming of owning a comfortable home with a large kitchen, a fireplace and a mantel}, my dreams, etc. And as you might guess, the more stressed out I'm feeling, the more prevalent these mistruths are in my daily inner dialog.
In a dream world, I would love to be one of those people who just doesn't let that stuff get to me. The kind of person who always sees the glass half full (or overflowing), but I'm just not hard wired that way.
Does anyone else struggle with this on a regular basis? And if you feel like you have a pretty good handle on not letting your expectations run away with your thoughts, how do you do it?!
Since we got back from Chicago, and after reading Julie's post on Habits of Happy People, I keep thinking of my sister-in-law's quote "It's just small potatoes" {in regards to the little stuff in life}. Deep down, I KNOW I shouldn't let little stressors tear me down or let these thoughts or what-ifs hold me back, but I do.
I also like what Amber and Julie both echoed that for them, when they start to get stressed, they think "Will this matter in a week? In a month? In a year?" Chances are, it won't. A little perspective definitely helps.
I don't know about you, but my head often tells me stories about myself that aren't always 100% true. Since I was young, I have fought to maintain a decent self esteem. I don't blame it on any one piece of my childhood, but likely some of it stems from being a "fat kid" during some of my younger years. Memories of extended family members and classmates talk about my weight to my face still sting a little bit. In reality, I wasn't that fat. I was chubby at most.
Alas, I've fought that battle and would like to think I won. Running has no doubt transformed me and made me more confident in my abilities than anything else.
But when I'm feeling vulnerable, I let my mind wander to mistruths if you will. I start telling myself mistruths about my career, my personal success, my future, our financial goals {dreaming of owning a comfortable home with a large kitchen, a fireplace and a mantel}, my dreams, etc. And as you might guess, the more stressed out I'm feeling, the more prevalent these mistruths are in my daily inner dialog.
In a dream world, I would love to be one of those people who just doesn't let that stuff get to me. The kind of person who always sees the glass half full (or overflowing), but I'm just not hard wired that way.
Does anyone else struggle with this on a regular basis? And if you feel like you have a pretty good handle on not letting your expectations run away with your thoughts, how do you do it?!
Since we got back from Chicago, and after reading Julie's post on Habits of Happy People, I keep thinking of my sister-in-law's quote "It's just small potatoes" {in regards to the little stuff in life}. Deep down, I KNOW I shouldn't let little stressors tear me down or let these thoughts or what-ifs hold me back, but I do.
I also like what Amber and Julie both echoed that for them, when they start to get stressed, they think "Will this matter in a week? In a month? In a year?" Chances are, it won't. A little perspective definitely helps.
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