When things don’t quite go to plan!

Let’s set the scene…

We’ve set our best intentions, we’ve the day/week/month ahead of us and off we go on our merry way with expectations of certain things happening, all is going well and then….

It doesn’t.

How would you react? Be angry?

OR

Take it as it is and make the best of it? – Living our best life is all about deciding to do just that.

Choosing our reaction

Once we choose our reaction to be one of action rather than re-action, it makes it easier to smile, say “oh well” (and in my case asking the universe what this is testing me about and checking if it’s Mercury Retrograde again) and then making a decision on how we deal with it.

Just recently, I’ve had a few that things haven’t quite gone to plan.

I had all sorts of wonderful things to be doing but life had other ideas.

Work:

Planned…Set up, launch and deliver my course, workshop and regular marketing.

But…I realised I had no idea how I would market my offerings or even if my offerings were actually offerings so had to delve deep again to be clear on what that was and I was being sporadic in when I worked on all this and to top it off, went I sent my newsletter and blog, the wrong link was attached. Bummer.

What I did about it: Found someone to teach me email funnels, re-evaluated my vision and message, put in place some time management.

I re-sent the email with a “let’s try this again”

Home:

Planned…. day out for lunch, scheduled work hours, dance class and all the other things that need doing each week.

But…My daughter was off school.

The front door jammed and wouldn’t lock.

The toilet cistern kept overflowing.

The back fence gate post dislodged and the gate wouldn’t shut.

And so it went on….

What I did about it: Smiled a wry smile, rearranged what I could, accepted what I couldn’t, called a locksmith – the door now works better than it ever did, hubby fixed the fence post and the fence no longer wobbles wither, and the loo might need another fix but it’s ok for now, and I practiced my gratitude that because I work for myself and that my husband can work from home that we were able to juggle all that was needed.

Nothing was serious, it all got resolved/fixed easily, all was fine again very soon and to top it off, the sun came out for a few days.

Victim Mode

A few years ago, despite none of this being anything major, I would have freefallen into despair, the old “woe is me” and “why does everything always go wrong”.

I no longer spending my life in victim mode, none of it was unsolvable.

Too often we can concentrate on the negative emotions and allow ourselves to be driven by feeling anger, frustration, annoyance.

By looking at each situation with a wry smile, an “ok, this has happened and what can we do to resolve this” kind of attitude, what can feel like a major trauma, might not seem quite as bad as you first thought.

Reframe that stuff!

So, when you find yourself in a situation that makes you say “what on earth is next”, “everything comes in three’s” (yep, deffo jack that one in!), take a step back for a moment and think to yourself:

Is anyone hurt or in danger – no – then maybe this isn’t as bad as I think

Can I do something about this – yes – then do it

Can I leave this for a moment and arrange for someone else to help me sort this out – yes – call the person you need and arrange a time to have it seen to

Is this really as bad as I think it is or can I rethink my anger/frustration as it’s just a temporary annoyance and tomorrow it shall pass – yes – then sleep on it and you’ll probably find it’s not as bad as you first thought when tomorrow comes.

Is it the end of the world – no – then be grateful that you have the realisation that sometimes stuff just happens and it’s our reaction to it that decides just how bad it really is.

Just as we can trust and love our internal emotions, we can also trust and love that external forces aren’t always what controls those internal emotions.

Sharing and taking first steps to change

What could you look at differently when it happens? I’d love to hear more about your experiences – send me an email liz@lizchaney.co.uk

Or join our supportive community at https://www.facebook.com/groups/lizchaney

Interested in how you could take those first steps to Living Your Best Life? Then take a look at my soon to be launched workshops and course at https://lizchaney.co.uk/living-your-best-life-courses-and-events/

You can also read my other blogs at https://lizchaney.co.uk/blog/

Live and Love YOUR Best Life….

Love and light, Liz