Don’t Buck Reality! Work Around It

 

It’s raining. Pouring, actually. You hate it. Oh, the rain itself is OK; it’s what comes along with it. Morning traffic is worse than usual, which probably means being late to work. The kids tracking their muddy shoes through the kitchen, messing up your newly mopped floors. Your hair will frizz, guaranteed, and who knows what condition the cat will turn up in. And that’s just the beginning of your grousing, teeth-grinding rant.

Rain Happens

Get over it! It’s rain. Nothing new. It is, at the moment, your reality. A wet reality, I grant you. But here you are, making it 10 times worse for yourself by expending your precious energy on something that’s a fact. Because, yes, your energy is precious. You are unnecessarily exhausting yourself imagining, re-hashing and generally angsting over all the things you don’t like about something you can’t change.

It doesn’t matter if where you live it’s snow, or wind, or road construction or some other annoying reality. It’s what it is, and your kvetching won’t change it, not by one iota.

So what are you supposed to do? Like it? No. There’s no need to try to transform your dislike into a personal development course, a spiritual awakening--unless that’s your pleasure, and then, have at it. But otherwise, it’s enough to acknowledge the reality along with your “and I don’t like it” and then move on.

Get Proactive

Move on to how you can best deal with what is annoying you. Put a sign up on the back door that asks your kids and partner to please remove their muddy shoes before entering the house. Figure out an alternate route to work to avoid the worst of the traffic and potential flooded areas, or leave earlier so the traffic will cause less anxiety. Encourage the cat to stay inside with their nice clean litter box.

There are always ways to cope with reality if you are willing to explore them. For that, you need the energy to do so. Stop wasting your valuable energy bemoaning the unchangeable, and enjoy how creative you can get in managing to have a good day despite it.

You got this!