Wednesday, June 10, 2009

My Year of Hopefulness - The Power of Compartmentalizing

You have to let it go. Breathe. Again. Breathe. This year I have really begun to appreciate the ability to compartmentalize the different areas of my life. It's not a natural skill I have, though one I have developed over and over again with conscious effort. Some days I am better at it than others. Today, I did really well.

I have one area of my life that has been giving me trouble lately, lots of it. I've had to learn to let it go and focus on the other great parts of my life. It's not easy. I'll find myself walking along the street and it will rear it's head again, forcing me to stop, breathe, and put it aside. It's sort of like a bad penny or one of those crazy dreams you have repeatedly.

This exercise has shown me that I do have the discipline to keep negative events in one area of my life from spilling over into others. It's not something that comes easily, and honestly, I used to be horrible at it. Dreadful, even. I was one of those people who would have 99 great things and 1 bad thing happen, and sure enough there I'd be at the end of day focusing on the 1 really bad thing as if the other 99 great things didn't even happen or matter. I don't suggest this method for living - actually, I highly discourage it. You'll be miserable and unhappy, and quite frankly, the world has enough misery and unhappiness right now without you and me contributing any more.

So learn to breathe a little more deeply, do yoga, meditate, run, have a good laugh, and let it all go. You'll be healthier and every other area of your life will thank you many times over.

2 comments:

runner52 said...

I could not agree more...years ago I was forced to re-evaluate my life. I had to change jobs and thought that my world was crashing around me....years later, I still think about what happened and what could have been, but lately I have found that while I waste time on the past, I have been missing out on the present....I finally decided to look at the world around me and concentrate the good things...lo and behold....the job I have, as opposed to the job I lost, is actually the best job I have ever had....who would have thought.....I came to these great epiphany while on my 4:30 am run..
I'm glad you write

Christa said...

Hi runner52,
Thanks so much for sharing your story! It's very inspirational to me as I struggle with this one of area of my life that is less than good while everything else is great!

-C