31 Days of Self-Esteem – Day 22 – Blindsided

Digesting inspirational or informational stuff first thing in the morning has become part of my daily schedule. It is a common theme across the myriad business books I have read. This morning, it was Brendon Burchard and his podcast on Disappointment.

Coming from the metaphysical world where negativity is taboo, I had an instant reaction to the word and almost skipped past it. But my finger didn’t cooperate and I hit play.

One of the big take-home messages there was:

Prep for the bad stuff or get blindsided.

Tweet

A Story:

2019 was the year from hell for me. If you have read much of my earlier posts, you already know that. Listening to Brendon talk this morning about being realistic when someone is diagnosed with cancer I realized my “fatal” mistake. Not acknowledging that the worst could happen will leave you devastated when it does. Even a slight nod in the direction of potential disaster is not “negativity” it is necessity. While, terrible things still suck, if we have prepared ourselves we don’t add shock onto the healing process.

I chose to think all flowers and rainbows about the state of my parent’s health. Even in the face of obvious facts and data. In a way, it allowed us all to enjoy the last months of their lives without having the hard conversations. But, mostly, it was the wrong way to go about things.

Long ago, I began to sift through the metaphysical world of information and pick out the things that worked for me while leaving the rest behind. I had not brought the “flowers and rainbows” airy-fairy nonsense with me. But I also hadn’t learned what to do instead. Faced with super big stress in the moment, I forgot that I hadn’t actually given a passing thought to the worst-case. And then it happened. Within 3 weeks, both my parents passed on.

An event that kicks-tarted the unraveling of the entirety of my life.

Over a year and a half later, I am still tidying up the mess.

Today, I think it would be wise to be up front and open about the crap that life deals out and the possibility of it happening to us.

Let’s Get Real:

1. Have You Been Blindsided? – Ever. Think about the terrible things that have happened in your life. If you haven’t, then you probably adequately consider all possibilities. Celebrate! And keep up the good work! If you have, keep going…
2. Get Honest – Look at every aspect of your life. Relationships. Environment. Work. Mind. Body. Have you considered the possibility that disaster could strike any one of those areas at any moment?
3. What Is Your Plan? It doesn’t have to be detailed. A general run-through of the exit points in your home, (Or in your life), is fine.
4. Why? Do you have an idea of why you do these exercises? Simply put…plan for the worst, enjoy the best.

Let’s go there….

What does being Blindsided have to do with self-esteem? A little bit of preparation changes your mental state. It empowers you. When you think past this moment into a future that perhaps sucks, and go a bit further to see that you are still okay, that sets you up for success. There is a subtle shift that happens in your gut/solar plexus when you make eye-contact with your future self. In that moment, you set yourself up to handle what comes your way even if it is not that exact scenario. You can be calm in the midst of a storm that you never imagined just because you were calm in the midst of a chaos that you did imagine.

The next time you feel a resistance to negativity or your mind screams “Don’t Go There!”

Do go there…boldly and bravely and come out the other side with a fortified gut.

Thank you for reading!