Flippin’ it.
Exhaustion has been pretty high in our household recently. A toddler alone will do that to you, let alone adding renovating on an insanely tight schedule and working into that mix.
Like most people, when I am tired and stressed I start getting irritable and snappy. My thoughts become quite negative and I can feel the tension in my body rising over the most insignificant things.
The worst thing about negative thoughts though is that you can quickly become trapped in the cycle. When we wake up already expecting it to be a long hard day, the chances are it will be, because that is the energy we’re putting out there.
When we are feeling negative, we focus on the negative things happening around us and completely miss all of the good bits.
Instead of noticing that your kids are playing happily in the living room we grumble about how loud they are being.
Instead of being grateful that our partner is with us for the morning routine we get annoyed over the huge mess in the kitchen.
Instead of feeling happy to have time to ourselves when our plans fall through, we feel sorry for ourselves.
The fastest way out of this negative cycle is to start flippin’ it.
And no, I don’t mean flipping out at whatever it is that is irritating you (though that might feel good in the moment, it only transfers your negativity to someone else). I’m talking about flipping those negative thoughts to something positive or at least finding something to be grateful for amidst the negative.
At the moment for me I have been feeling sorry for myself that we’ve had to rush this reno and move in. I’ve been stressing over the fact that this wasn’t the plan. We were meant to have time to complete it before moving in, not wrangling a toddler around tools and half-finished rooms.
But it is the way it is. I can continue to wallow in these negative ‘it wasn’t meant to be like this’ thoughts or I can just get on with it and find the good amongst it. And if I am really looking there is always a lot of good here.
+ we no longer have to drive half and hour each way to do any work
+ we’ve already done way more to downstairs than we thought we would
+ we get to enjoy being close to the beach sooner
+ after rushing around like mad for the last 5 weeks we can now sit back and take our sweet time with the rest. There is no longer a time frame for completing our dream home.
Flippin’ it applies to every sort of negative thought that floats through your head. Even when it feels like everything is going wrong, there is always something to be grateful for.
Stressed out and far too busy?
+ Be grateful for all the opportunities that have come your way.
Lonely?
+ Enjoy the time on your own with no one else to answer to.
Frustrated by the slow progress you are making on something?
+ Maybe you just need lots of time to make it perfect?
Get the idea?
What you can start flippin’ it on today?