Choices

- May 19, 2020

Hey Party People,

The first long weekend of the summer has come and gone. How did it feel? It was a gorgeous weekend and I saw so many people out and about enjoying the beautiful weather. But I can guarantee that many people were dwelling on the fact that patios didn’t open in Calgary, or that COVID is going to hold a dark cloud over the rest of our summer. This will only be true if you choose to only see the dark cloud and ignore the sunny rays breaking through.

I was chatting with a friend about summer and she asked if I thought I’ve be travelling or go anywhere. For me it’s doubtful, I just feel there are too many unknowns. I’m just going to enjoy my summer close to home and do the best I can. Unfortunately, many of the great things I could enjoy during a summer at home have been cancelled – Stampede, Country Thunder, etc. But I’m not dwelling on this. What IS possible is time with family, backyard fires, more chances to go hiking, opportunities to go for a picnic. There are ALWAYS things I say I wish I did every summer and don’t because I’m busy with other things. This is the time to do the things I never made time to do before, and you can too.

As always its about perspective and how you frame what your summer can look like. Its YOUR choice. Like everything in life. For those of you who still have more bad days than good during COVID, think about what you are choosing to focus on, what do you do day to day that may be feeding your bad days instead of prompting good ones. Every post I’ve put up to date has shared insights on mindset, and coping mechanisms or how to stay positive, but these are all choices and that choice can only be made by you. And don’t be fooled a choice not to do something, is still a choice. Make yours.

I’ve been reading and listening more to things about positive and negative thinking, and how to be more resilient. There is so much power in our thoughts because they feed our actions, but the reverse is also true, that our behaviours also feed our thoughts. They work in a continuous feedback loop.

For example, have you ever had a weekend where you just over-indulged (holla May Long weekend for this gal!)? You gave yourself excuses and said, “it’s the long weekend,” or “it’s my birthday,” or “I’m on vacation”. This frame of mind gives yourself permission to indulge further. Your thoughts then feed your behavior. Now think after that vacation or special occasion when you are trying to get back on track, how much harder is it? Your past behavior then informs your mentality that its ok to over-indulge. Do you see how it becomes a loop? In this example it’s a negative loop, but the same works for positive choices.

There is so much power in our minds and our behaviours but if you don’t align the two you will constantly and always be fighting with yourself.

So, do you want your summer to be hella good? Then make it so! Make that choice right now to find a way to make memories, have fun and not waste the warm days ahead. We know our world as we know it is forever changed, and that COVID is not going away real soon. It is something we have to learn to live with. The key though is not to stop living. We are living in an adjusted reality and could be all summer, with some new found freedoms as things open up. But you can’t just sit and wait for this to be over. You can’t just stop showing up for yourself. The longer you stay down, the harder it is to get back up, but the reverse is also true. The more times you get back up, the less time you will stay down.

Make a choice, and make a choice your future self will thank-you for. Lets not give up on summer 2020!

Let’s kick start your week right with a summertime jam!!