It’s interesting what a change in perspective can do for your outlook. I came off my third consecutive 70 hour week at work last Friday wanting nothing more than a quiet, stress-free weekend at home with nothing to do and absolutely no obligations to take me away from, well, doing nothing. That’s not how things worked out as I’d already promised to attend the big Pet Expo, needed to write some advance content for my blog, wanted to update my other website and assist my wife with her site. In addition, 3 consecutive 70 hour weeks of work equates to precious little free time to keep up with housework so there was a list of honey-dos in desperate need of catching up on. I won’t lie about it…, I was NOT pleased.
I accomplished most of my intended projects, though I did miss out on a chance to shoot some pictures downtown with a friend. The problem is I found myself going through the motions and getting the job done with precious little enthusiasm and a constant grumble in the back of my mind. This is no way to end 3 weeks of hell, I found myself thinking. What about some me time to end the week on? Even two shows that usually serve to inspire me, Oprah’s Big Give and Extreme Home Makeover, were studiously watched with notebook in hand as little more than research material rather than serving to perk me up with evidence of kindness in humanity. They were little more than projects. It hit me in the last few minutes of Big Give, as I headed to the refrigerator, that I was thinking about everything all wrong.
See, my frame of mind was that here was more work on the end of a very tough series of weeks. All it took was changing perspective. Last week ended on Friday. Yeah, I know… they call it a Weekend, but that doesn’t mean I needed to think of Saturday and Sunday as the latter two days in a bad week. Instead, I should think of them as the first two positive days in a week that’s just begun! What a difference it has made in my outlook!
I now see last Saturday and Sunday as two days in which I’ve prepared content for Toxic Kindness in advance, tidied up the house and my home office so I have something nice to come home to at the end of my day, redesigned my other website so it’s better for my audience and gathered great inspiration for future posts here. What a great way to start the week! I went into Monday feeling like I was ahead of the game rather than less rested than I’d rather be. Even though it was a drizzling, dumpy kind of day that usually doesn’t lend itself to a positive outlook, I made it through just fine.
Remember, your own outlook plays a huge part in how your day goes. Smile at yourself in the mirror in the morning and tell yourself it’s going to be a great day no matter what. Even faking a big grin causes the release of happy chemicals in your brain and taking the time to convince yourself of a great day ahead first thing in the morning inclines your mood in the right direction. This may or may not be another 70 hour week, but if it is, so what? I’m ready to tackle it and I already finished 3 days of it strong!