For the past few months, I’ve been keeping track of the daily weather in my journal. I had begun to feel like the days where I had boundless energy and ambition were typically sunny ones, whereas my energy seemed to wane after too many gray days in a row. I wanted to see if there was any basis behind these thoughts.
I have done similar self-studies with moon cycles, workload levels, and more. I know, I know! But sometimes the PhD in me just needs the data. 🙂
As I’ve pondered this a bit, I’ve come to some interesting realizations:
If my energy feels lower on gray days, is that due to the gray day – or could it be that I didn’t get out for my walk that day?
Or is it because drizzle expands my hair to 8 times its normal size, so perhaps it’s the continuous bad hair days impacting my energy and mood?
Or maybe it’s actually a bright and sunny day outside, and my windows just need cleaning?
I could continue speculating, but ultimately it comes back to this: Regardless of what I discover, I cannot control the weather.
Sunshine or derecho (a new experience for me this year), warmth or snow squall (another new one), it’s not in my control.
So, do I throw up my hands and say there’s nothing I can do about it?
Absolutely not.
I may not get to choose the weather, but I do get to choose my mindset.
I do get to choose my actions.
I do get to choose who and how I will be in the world today, regardless of the weather or anything else.
And so do you.
Where do you feel like things are out of your hands? Maybe it’s the pandemic. The election. Changing work policies. The countless other things that appear on the daily.
Rather than feeling exasperated, focus on what you can do.
You can choose your thoughts, your mindset, your response.
You can reach out for help.
You can do your research, share your feelings, take a deep breath, offer a helping hand to someone else, and myriad other actions.
Who and how will you choose to be in the world today – regardless of the weather or anything else?
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