The ballots have been tabulated, and the leading cause of ongoing stress is… uncertainty, AND the belief that you have no control over it regardless of the circumstances. In this scenario, everyday life is like spinning the wheel at a gaming table – you’re at the mercy of where the ball lands, and have no influence over the process. Yes, you may win from time to time, but the odds are that if you keep playing, you’re eventually going to lose. But if you invest in yourself by taking steps to master your life, you’re no longer playing a game where the odds are clearly stacked against you. Instead, you’re charting your future.
I find that most people who incessantly complain about their position in life and fashion themselves as powerless over their circumstances, possess neither the wherewithal nor the motivation to change their model. Whatever energy they do have has been sapped by continuously running on the hamster wheel of helplessness and hopelessness. It becomes an everyday operational system, and when supported by others with similar beliefs, it becomes difficult to envision life any other way. “They” are against us, and we’re not the problem, it’s “them.”
But there is no “them.” We truly are our own worst enemies and believing that others are scheming to undermine or bring us down is delusional.
I’ve strived to rarely if ever use this space to spout out platitudes for how anyone should live their life. I’m confident though that what I’m suggesting next applies every bit as much to me as it may to you:
Turn the calendar to 2014 with the belief that you’re at the captain’s wheel of your future — short-term and long-term — and that the decisions you make each day will drive to what extent you exceed your goals or fall short of achieving them. This was the case last year and will be in 2015, 2016, 2017… and so on.
Happy New Year!
