Attitude Is A Lot But It Ain't Everything

Change Your Thinking by Maryellen Smith

“If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

At any given point in time, you’re only one thought away from changing your thinking. What thought can you change today?

(Author: Maryellen Smith)

This was timely considering the morning I've had so far.

I was lying awake waiting for the alarm to go off when my cell phone rang at 5:39. It was someone from my team saying that the users were having login issues but she'd gotten a hold of someone to work on it. What a bummer for a Monday morning. Actually, it's a bummer for any morning.

She then told me that she'd already called and left me a message. WTH? I was right next to my phone and didn't hear it. That was more irritating to me than the issue.

I got up and tried to log in to work to see if everything was OK. It was for me but then I followed up with two other people to see how others were going.

All that threw off my morning routine. I showered and put on my makeup but realized that I'd forgotten to put on foundation. Doh! That's the first step. After remedying that, I realized I hadn't brushed my teeth. Since I use a foaming toothpaste, that means I had to redo foundation.

Now, here's where the changing of thinking comes in. I could let the issues of the morning, major and minor, affect me all day. It's already Monday and the sadness of leaving the weekend behind so it would be easy to be crabby.

But, I won't be crabby. I'll take a few deep breaths. I'll think about how people were inconvenienced but no one died, we'll figure out how to prevent the issue from happening again and life will go on. Finally, I'll decide it will be a better day if I choose to approach it in a happier frame of mind.

However, that's much easier to do with issues like mine. Sometimes, life can deal you a crushing blow and no amount of trying to change your attitude can help. It just sucks.

A friend of mine posted this video:

I think it makes an important message that attitude isn't always everything you need to get by. Sometimes, a little love and luck are required.