It’s good to be back in the driver’s seat, creating all sorts of interesting things on the web. For a while, my thoughts were all over the map and I did not think forward.
I haven’t been able to write any blog posts for the past while because I‘ve been dealing with a nasty wound on my leg.
It really knocked my socks off (quite literally) and refused to heal for far too long.
As the wound worsened, I became more worried and found myself lost in the weeds of scary “what if?” thoughts.
Now, that’s a thinking swamp to avoid at all cost.
My spirit dropped to the basement. I didn’t call friends or do much of anything.
As a rule, I am a chin-up kinda gal, but this health bump really got the better of me. I wanted to snap out of it but wanting did not cut the mustard.
So I started to pay attention to my thoughts and saw how they triggered my emotional feelings.
A big fear kept floating into my thoughts. One that involved a memory of a doctor saying he hoped I would not lose my feet in the future due to the extent of my circulatory difficulties.
Shocked and angered, I tossed him and his opinions right out the door.
Yet, here I was, wondering if his version of my future was presenting itself through this nasty wound.
Thinking along these lines causes me to feel shaky and tearful.
I hate feeling fragile, and I know only I can heal my emotional state. And I know that I can do that by redirecting my thinking.
So whenever the “what if?” thoughts arise, I force myself to ignore them and focus on whatever I am doing at that moment.
Just having a thought doesn’t make it true.
The more I catch myself – “Oh, there’s my thinking going off again”, the calmer I become.
Something about calming down lifts me up.
A scooter ride in our neighbourhood yesterday evening put this all into perspective for me.
A boat in the distance caught my attention. I found myself soaking up the interesting view and no longer paying attention to driving my scooter. I didn’t notice I was too close to the edge of the road.
Guess what happened?
Luckily for me, help was not far away, and a disaster was avoided.
Lesson learned: Think forward and pay attention to what’s right in front of you.
