Change the situation by changing the way you think about the situation–thoughts are powerful

Recently I hit a bit of a covid wall. For the most part, I’ve been able to stay positive throughout the whole 2020 Covid situation and realize how incredibly lucky our family is. Last weekend though, I was in a mood. Until I reminded myself it is possible to change the situation by changing the way you think about the situation–thoughts are powerful.

How I could see the situation

It’s cold. I dislike being cold. Usually once a year we take a vacation seeking slightly warmer temperatures. That’s not happening this year.

I’m antsy. I don’t want to say bored, because I have plenty to do, but I’d like a little adventure. Our days and weekends and nights and days are starting to run into each other like one long blur, with garbage day on Wednesday being our only real-time marker.

The kids are antsy too. Anika has remote learning for some sort of outside stimulation, but I worry about Jake. He is missing out on all of the fun things Anika got to do when she was three. I’m sad for him and me. We don’t get to do those activities together before he ages out. I miss storytime.

For a weekend, I was grumpy. I gave myself some time to feel those feelings and then snapped myself out of my first-world problems and shifted back into a better mindset. There are people with legit, terrible, horrible problems right now. That is not me. I reframed my thoughts and changed the situation by changing the way I thought about the situation. Thoughts are powerful. Marianne Williamson in A Return to Love, so beautifully says, ” A shift not so much in an objective situation, it is a shift in how we perceive a situation.”

Reframing the situation

Here’s how I can change the situation by changing the way I think about the situation.

We can’t travel right now, but we can do projects around the house. Those to-do checklists lately are looking good. There are local hikes and our own hometown to explore in ways we haven’t before.

And yes, it’s cold. But there are certain things we can only do when it’s cold. We are making a winter bucket list and not wishing the days away for warm summer weather. We are appreciating the snow. I’m passionately doing what I’m doing while I’m doing it and enjoying this snowman building, hot chocolate season while it lasts.

I may be antsy but that feeling is forcing me to do creative things I might not have otherwise, like start a Podcast with Jamie. Our latest episode discusses this topic in more detail if you want to check it out on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

I also have an appreciation for the little things and notice them in ways normally I might have missed. My neighbor and I were recently discussing this. I was recounting how exciting it was for us to watch her get her new refrigerator delivered and she shared the joy she experienced while watching another neighbor have their trees cut back. Magic in the mundane moments.

And sure Jacob and Anika may be stuck in the house together and bored but at least they have each other and are getting a whole lot of sibling bonding time. I signed Jake up for virtual storytime through the library and we can attend it that way together for now.

Most importantly I’m being grateful for everything we have instead of focusing on the very little we don’t have right now.

Thoughts are powerful

It’s incredible when you realize the power your thoughts have. This works for many areas I might be feeling discontent. I can change the situation by changing the way I think about the situation, but it works for other things too. Whether it’s stuff (objects I think I need that are better than what I already have), my home (features it might be lacking), relationships (people not behaving the way I think they should behave). Sometimes the change that needs to be made is simply in my thoughts and nothing more.