| As she beamed me into the MRI machine, I thought, “Holy crap! I have to lay here in this tube for 40 minutes without moving!” Then I remembered the Vipassana retreat that I attended where not only did I not speak for 10 days (yes, it happened!) but I sat still in meditation for 10 hours every single day of those 10 days. This MRI experience was less than 1/100 of what I did that week.  |
| Suddenly the next 40 minutes didn’t seem quite so daunting! So often when we’re faced with something challenging or uncomfortable or new, we think we are starting over and this is the first time we are ever experiencing this challenge. But often we have experienced something like it before. Example: my friend Chad is looking for a new job and he remarked to me that he didn’t wanna start all over again. I reminded him that as a 40 year-old professional who has worked all of his adult life, he has had an incredible wealth of professional experiences. He wasn’t starting over. He’ll be able to utilize all the experience and knowledge and wisdom that he has gained in whatever new job he gets. So instead of listing out the jobs that he had, he started thinking about the skills that he learned, projects he completed and challenges he overcame, and suddenly there were a lot more job opportunities available to Him. Another example: I am buying a house right now. I get all scaredy-pants when I think about what I’m committing to financially. I was sitting there lamenting about how scary it was and was. “Am I really ready for this??” and I remembered that I have purchased a house before. I took care of all of the maintenance issues and repairs and I kept up with my mortgage and I even had tenants. Not only that, even when I haven’t owned a house, I’ve kept up with all my financial responsibilities and all the challenges and surprises that came along. There’s no reason I won’t continue that 30-year winning streak. All this has led me to ponder the fact that we are usually more prepared than we give ourselves credit for. When we face things that are unfamiliar, uncertain, or different than we’ve dealt with in the past, we often think that we are starting over and that we don’t have the resources. Next time you’re in that pickle, make a list of all the things you’ve learned, of all the skills that will come in handy and all the challenges you’ve overcome and you’re probably going to realize that you’re a bigger badass than you remembered. Go get ‘em tiger |
