Ever Have One of Those Days?

Yesterday was not the best day in BridgettLand. I was physically tired, mentally exhausted, and emotionally frazzled.

The combination of being down on so many fronts rendered my spirit joyless. This had not happened to me in a long time. And over the years I've learned that it's much easier to guard against, than it is to recover.

However, I had not realized that certain circumstances beyond my control which I was about to endure on Monday, would require some extra protective gear. So yesterday I was...wiped...out.

The good news was that I had enough awareness to know that even though it all seemed very real, very oppressive, and very permanent, it wasn't.

I also knew enough to engage my will, rather than continue to allow myself to dig deeper into my little black hole that was sucking the life out of me.

Yes, BridgettLand can be a nice little roller coaster ride when the negative invaders gain too much territory.

In order to avoid my foe from getting a foothold in my mind, my weapon of choice yesterday was Aretha Franklin singing  "Accentuate the Positive".

Given all the other options I have such as prayer, a supportive husband, God's Word, the listening ear of my mom, it was amusing to me that a simple song, played more than a few times, was so effective!

It was amusing and also quite telling...sometimes we make mountains out of molehills. Sometimes that overwhelming circumstance is really of our own creation, in our own mind.

I've learned that turning around and not engaging with the garbage, and moving forward in the opposite direction towards the good stuff, seems to be the best response.

Life is too short, too precious, filled with so many possibilities and positives, to allow myself to get caught up in the muck and mire. And most of the time it's really as simple as this song says:

You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between
You've got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium's
Liable to walk upon the scene

My Attitude About the Details

Life is so much about details. I’ve heard that to be “successful” it’s 2% details and 98% attitude. I must admit that it wasn’t until today that I realized I was minimizing the importance of details, rather than maximizing the importance of attitude.

In the past, I would focus on big-picture stuff, while neglecting the details. I would think that keeping a huge vision in front of me meant that I could ignore the details. That somehow they’d all work themselves out, because life was 2% detail and 98% attitude, right?

To be honest, I just didn’t want to deal with the details. I’m not a detail person. Talking and thinking about big stuff and fun stuff is far more exciting than actually doing the work!

Well, the result of this neglect is I would get so far behind, buried in the minutiae of stuff that had piled up, and my attitude would turn sour. Then I’d have to stop everything, unbury myself, deal with any cranky feelings, work to resume my great attitude, ignore the details, get buried, stop everything, unbury myself, and on and on the not-so-merry-go-round I would go.

The latest example is that I just got done, three days ago, with our 2007 taxes. I filed an extension six months ago, because I was just too busy with big-picture stuff to do the taxes. Yeah, right.

This way of life has been an ongoing cycle for a long, long time.

And today, that cycle has been broken. Details are extremely important and necessary. It’s not about not doing the details. It’s to do them, do them well, and in addition, work on having a great attitude. It is not an either/or proposition.

Because I’ve finally come to understand details’ incalculable value, I’m learning to appreciate and embrace them.

What comes to mind was this past summer, when we taught the kids to ride their bikes. I remember how frustrated our daughter was when she couldn’t seem to get herself moving. She couldn’t get the pedals to turn from a standstill position.

With great detail I walked her through the positioning of her foot, with her toe pointed up, and her heel on the top pedal, lifting her body up, and pushing down on that heel with all her might, as she held on to the handle bars, and used her other heel to continue the momentum, while looking straight ahead.

On top of this detail, I also walked her through having a great attitude. Teaching her to replace words like “I can’t. This is too hard. No!” with words like, “I can do this! I’m a winner! I’m a champion! Yes!”

I could be cheering my daughter on, jumping up and down with great enthusiasm. But without the detail, we’d be at a standstill, wouldn’t we?