This quote from Will Bowen stopped me from scrolling and immediately made me want to share: "You're eventually going to get over what's bugging you, right? Why not get over it now and enjoy the rest of the day?"
Powerful, right? What seems like such a huge deal first thing in the morning has often dissipated by lunchtime. Why not let it dissipate sooner and save yourself a whole lot of frustration?
Here's an example. Last year I attended the World War II Weekend with my husband. I lathered on the sunscreen several times and even wore a big dorky hat to protect myself since there wasn't much shade to be found.
Yet as we stopped in a store quickly on our way to dinner that evening, he said, "Um.... you might want to check a mirror." I had the strangest sunburn I had ever experienced! In spite of what I could have sworn was even application of sunscreen, I had streaks on my face, arms, and chest. What the heck? I was mortified. No one else seemed to be staring at me, but I obsessed over it throughout dinner and for the rest of the weekend. It seemed to be all I could think about.
The air show recently came up during a dinner conversation. My friend turned to me and asked, "Isn't that when you got the really weird sunburn?" Really? I spent the whole day with my husband exploring one of his passions, and the most memorable part of the story was the sunburn? Get over it, Christin.
If I could do it again, when I saw the sunburn I'd say, "Well that's a bummer and quite embarrassing. But there's nothing I can do about it now. It'll be gone in a few days. No use giving it any more of my energy."
On a recent podcast episode Jay Shetty suggested considering what type of a problem you're facing. Is it a 5 day problem? Or will it still be a problem in 5 weeks? 5 months? 5 years? My sunburn problem was more of a 2-day problem, yet I let it take up way more head space than it deserved.
You're going to eventually get over it, right? Why not get over it now?
Photo by Andrew Palmer on Unsplash