November didn’t turn out anything like I’d planned. I thought we’d have our first female President–but I was wrong. I thought I’d conquer National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and get 50,000 new words written in my current work in progress–but I was wrong. I thought I’d start a diet and lose at least five pounds–yep, wrong again.
It’s December now. Time to move on and set new goals. To do that, I need to let go of the guilt and frustration about those mistakes and failures in November. The best way I know how to do that is to look for the silver linings.
For example, maybe our country’s first female President will end up being someone universally admired instead of someone riddled with suspicion and questionable ethics. That’d be better, right? And while I wasn’t able to dedicate myself to NaNoWriMo and the new book, my editor’s notes on my last submission are making that book much stronger. That’s great, too! Now, admittedly, it’s tough to see the silver lining in my diet failure, except I did totally enjoy the Bethel Bakery cake my mom got for my daughter over the Thanksgiving break! I rarely get that treat now that we’ve moved from Pittsburgh to Connecticut.
When I was younger, I would dwell on things that troubled me, even things beyond my control. Age has taught me what a monumental waste of time that behavior can be. Now I try to make myself look at things with a fresh perspective. Once I’ve found something positive within each of the otherwise upsetting events, they don’t seem so awful. In fact, most of the time, readjusting my attitude about an outcome opens up new and brighter possibilities.
Do you dwell on your mistakes, or do you move onward and upward?
P.S. I will start that diet…after the holidays.
xo-Jamie
