It’s A Mental Game – Win It!

Remember when we were kids and how excited we would be to wake up to see snow on the ground and get news that school was cancelled?!  Maybe we should all try waking up tomorrow and pretending we are little kids that just found out it was a snow day!  ….and isn’t it interesting how just picturing ourselves doing that tomorrow morning is enough to make you smile?! 

I was reminded of those childlike feelings of excitement when my two year old grandson came over last night.  He came bounding through the front door so full of excitement – “Hi Grandma!” he yelled – and he immediately took off racing past me as if he was the fastest racecar tearing around track at top speed in some great race. Then he called out to play hide-and-seek squealing with joy at his anticipation of us coming to find him.  And he couldn’t wait to show me how his Captain America action figure could dive from the couch down to the floor followed by stories about how he watched Spiderman today accompanied by imitations of Spiderman shooting webs from his hands. Everything is exciting through his eyes.

All of that took me back to my own memories of being a little kid, and the joy he exuded brought me back to memories of waking up to find snow outside and getting the word that the schools were closed for a Snow Day!  We’d throw on our boots and gloves and run outside to make snow angels. We didn’t need anyone to entertain us on those days…we were perfectly capable of entertaining ourselves. We didn’t mope around saying how bored we were or how trapped we felt to have to stay home  –we were just stoked it was a snow day and we were getting a break from the normal routine.

So much of what we are going through right now is a mental game. And winning the game is all about how we will choose to think about the situation.  If we allow our minds to think like adults we will start worrying about everything and focus on all the things we want to be different. If instead, we choose to think about it like a kid would, we will wake up every day feeling stoked that today is going to be a totally awesome Snow Day!

~Amy Rees Anderson (author of the book “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life” )

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