FRUSTRATED PLANS
You wait around all morning for the electrician who doesn’t come. You have moved appointments so you can be home and he hasn’t even had the grace to contact you. The job has been waiting to be completed for months.
A long client meeting mid-afternoon is cancelled at the last minute. At least they have a genuine reason for it - but you couldn’t get into some important work knowing you’d have to stop for the meeting!
Your frustration burns as you consider the two projects that could have had your undivided attention had these two situations not arisen.
The family get home and you are irritable with them and go to bed at the end of the day feeling you have failed and that the world has conspired against you. You know that’s illogical but it is how you feel.
It’s life. Plans change. How can you develop yourself to cope better?
How about developing a flexible response to setbacks? Think of it like starting Pilates to get your stiffening body to stretch and flex!
· Notice what triggers frustration and the symptoms as they emerge
· Become aware of your thoughts, feelings and physical response to setbacks
· Then choose to look for positive thoughts which will change the feelings and body responses.
o When you are unable to give dedicated time to that important project, catch up on the non-urgent tasks that have been waiting and which are starting to give you stress as they mount up. As you knock them off the list, be pleased with using the time to reduce that to do list.
o Give yourself some blue-sky thinking time. You’re working from home so sit in the garden or go for a walk as you do this. Breathe and let your creative and strategic juices flow and be grateful for pockets of time to use these latent gifts.
Even the thought of choosing how you will spend time can help free you from negative thoughts and emotions. You are in control of your responses to the changed circumstances that you could not control. So that’s good huh? Take back your life every day as you turn a problem into an opportunity.