This year I started wearing optimism coloured glasses. I am not at all an optimist by nature. When I was seeing a psychologist for my anxiety and depression, she asked me what triggered my anxiety. I told her that I felt anxious as soon as I woke up in the morning. We figured out that as soon as I woke up, I would imagine how the course of the day would go, anticipating worst case scenario. Of course I was waking up anxious! She asked me, how would it feel to wake up every morning and think ‘Today is going to be a great day’. Well that was quite a change!
It’s not that I wake up every morning now with a spring in my step or anything like that, but it’s a small shift of my internal thought from assuming the worst to remembering that the world is full of possibilities, and it’s up to me to make the best of all of my circumstances.
When I get caught in a downward spiral of anxiety I stop myself by realising that whatever it is that I'm stressing about, it's probably more imagined than real, it's a momentary thing, just breath and shake it off.
For me it’s also about recognizing the ordinary beauty of things and appreciating the little things. That’s one of the main things that struck me when I really started writing this year. The world is very interesting once you stop to pay attention to it.
Reverb10: Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?
Image source: jurvetson
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