Written by: Bronwen Sciortino, Senior Level Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I don’t want to ‘adult’ today. There’s a reason this saying has been turned into one of the most popular memes viewed and shared on social media.
We get it. We relate to it. And we completely understand it.
Just reading the words brings to mind the picture of an exhausted, drooping character covering their face with their hand, or a puppy or kitten hiding in the blankets with their paw over their face.
Adulting in the modern world is hard, and there are times when it feels like it would be so much simpler to just curl up into a ball and hide from the world.
There’s so much going on… all the time
We watch the people around us battling their way through crisis after crisis and come out the other side stronger and more determined to make their way in the world.
We watch the traumatic events that are happening around the world and we know that, in comparison, what we are experiencing is on a much smaller scale.
At first, we’re horrified at witnessing what others have to go through… and then we’re relieved because they made it through to the other side. But then we feel awful, because ultimately it makes us feel inept when we can’t handle the ‘small stuff’ that happens in our own lives.
We can’t understand why the little things that happen to us cause us so much stress, and it infuses us with worry that we’ve completely stuffed up our lives and there’s no way back.
It feels like it will only take one small thing for it to all come crumbling down
We’re in there everyday, forcing our exhausted selves out of bed and into the world to get done what we have to get done. But here’s the rub: there is zero joy, or fun or laughter, in existing like that.
We feel like we need to ‘harden up’ and be tougher, but we tried that years ago and it only made things worse.
We don’t want to admit it to ourselves, but it might just take one tiny, little thing to jump on top of the pile and everything will come crashing down.
Plus, we don’t want to make excuses for ourselves… but we have to admit that we are often left wondering: ‘How do people do it?’ How DO they get themselves through the massive stuff they have to cope with, while still appearing to be emotionally ‘together’ and like they have everything under control?
The truth is this: the answer is really simple
What we see happening around us is coloured by our own perceptions and our own experiences of life.
When we see someone going through something that we perceive to be ‘big’, we see the powerful attributes that we believe are necessary for someone to survive it.
But! The experience for the individual we are looking at might be something completely different to that which our mind has made up for us.
Also, we have no idea what is going on behind the scenes for that person. We don’t know what it’s like to be in their mind, we don’t know what it’s like to live their life. Therefore, anything we decide about that person is made up by ourselves, for the story that WE are telling about that person and their situation.
Comparing ourselves to them therefore creates an irrelevant narrative that doesn’t serve any purpose in our lives.
In the scheme of things
There is no ‘scheme of things’ that we have to place our issue within and then have it ranked in order of severity or impact. There are simply the things that we are experiencing and the impact they are having on us as individuals.
There is no comparison to be made between what I have experienced and what you are experiencing now. There is simply a moment in time where you notice that something is impacting you and you either find a way to stop the impact or you choose to let the impact continue.
When we simplify the way we look at things and bring them back to what we actually know to be true, we can drop the comparison and choose to look at the ways we can change the way we move through our lives.
Yes, we were taught during our formative years that we must be competitive to get ahead… but as adults we get to choose whether we wish to continue living in that way.
Choose what you want and let that be your guide
Asking questions is a powerful tool to help you know where you want to go next. Here’s a few questions you can ask to help yourself move forward in a different way:
What’s important to you? Make these things the focus of the decisions you make about the opportunities you say ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ to.
What do you want your days to look like? How do you want to feel when you wake up? What pace do you want to live at? Where do you want to spend your time?
What do you want to be doing? What are the things you want to be doing every day?
Once you have these answers you can start to create simple, easy and practical steps that can get you there.
When you take the time to consciously and deliberately choose the things you want to experience, your life starts to look and feel completely different.
It all starts with making the choice to make some simple changes. What simple change will you make today?
If you want some help getting started, there are also loads of tips and more information in the articles and videos in my FREE email series. Simply click here to start you on your way.
Bronwen Sciortino is a Simplicity Expert, Professional Speaker and an internationally renowned author. You can follow her at her website; Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Read more from Bronwen!
Bronwen Sciortino, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Bronwen Sciortino is an International Author and Simplicity Expert who spent almost two decades as an award-winning executive before experiencing a life changing event that forced her to stop and ask the question ‘What if there’s a better way to live?’
Embarking on a journey to answer this question, Bronwen developed a whole new way of living – one that teaches you to challenge the status quo and include the power of questions in everyday life.
Gaining international critical acclaim and 5-star awards for her books and online programs, Bronwen spends every day teaching people that there is an easy, practical and simple pathway to creating a healthy, happy AND highly successful life.
Sourced globally for media comment as an expert and working with corporate programs, conference platforms, retreats, professional mentoring and in the online environment, Bronwen teaches people how easy it is to live life very differently.
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