You can totally make another choice

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably beaten yourself up pretty good after an athletic performance. You might even be a pro at giving yourself a mental smackdown when things don’t go your way.

Been there. Done that. Soooo many times.

It took a long time to learn that I didn’t have to do that! I have a choice. And so do you, my friend.

You can go on berating yourself after each outing. That’s a choice. Or you could:

• Interrupt the negative thought

• Talk to someone else about it

• Meditate on it

• Focus on what you learned

Since you’re reading this, you’re definitely at least now aware intellectually that you have a choice. It’s the awareness that you have a choice that a lot of people miss.

I know, it’s easier said than done. Even I start down that rabbit hole of anger, disappointment and despair sometimes. But nowadays, I’m pretty darn good at catching myself. That’s okay too! If you catch yourself getting into that same negative pattern, that’s awesome. A great first step. You’ve caught yourself. You have the awareness.

Now you can make the conscious choice to allow the patterns that don’t work for you to continue to run… or not.

Choice is your greatest superpower!

You can start small and go from there. Just choose the next thing. Recognize your feelings for what they are: data. Use the data from that wanting-to-have-a-different-outcome moment to inform your next decision. Time and energy are wasted beating yourself up or blaming others. You have better things to do.

Here’s to making better choices!

BTW: Some particular decisions are not ours to make but we always have a choice about how to respond to them and what to do next. And remember, situations can always change. Give 100% always… because you never know.