8 Rules vs. Adversity

6:42 PM

2/24/2023 - 8 Rules vs. Adversity

Lately, it feels like Life has been kicking my ass left and right. Every corner I’ve turned seemed to hold a new surprise for me, one that hurt, angered, or left me a little financially traumatized.

However, after all I’ve been through, nothing has really shaken me to my core, and nothing actually will.

Here’s what I’ve learned these last 5-6 months while being under intense stress and/or pressure:

1. Figure out what you need and discern between what you want.

• There is a key difference in knowing what you require to sustain Life and what is your selfish desire so that you can use it to pacify your fleeting pain.
• Being able to tell the difference between those two will show you what you can live without. My fridge looks empty 100% of the time, but truth be told, I have my breakfast, lunch, and dinner for an entire week if you look close enough.

2. Find systems that work best for you.

• Learning that I was a visual creature helped me to hone in on creating to-do lists for my days and weeks! I have a whiteboard that is very colorful, with all my weekly tasks that I then break up by day in my forever-opened daily planner.

3. Try your hardest to stick to a routine that best serves you.

• When I feel in control of my day-to-day tasks, I can focus on the other demanding feats.
• Working out, tending to animals, doing my daily rehab exercises, eating, showering, and getting ready for work are now such automated tasks that I don’t even need to think twice about what to do next. I’ve gotten this morning routine down so well that I’ve been getting to work earlier and earlier.

4. Be gracious. Be forgiving when you can’t be Superman.

• I am ambitious. I am equally self-critical, and God forbid I don’t finish all the tasks I set out for myself; I will go to sleep discouraged and deflated.
• Truth be told, I’m human. I am still learning how to gauge (and conserve) my energy to tackle everything at an even and consistent pace throughout the day. Sometimes, even on my best days, I will still feel like flopping on the couch and doing diddly squat (i.e., doing nothing) for hours.

5. Inner harmony comes when you find yourself being honest.

• I tossed and turned over a situation for at least two months because I was unsure of what to do next. Then, I opened up and told the truth to my boss. While he laughed and assured me everything was okay, things were still unresolved, and that’s all there is to it. I at least did my part and told my manager. Since that come-to-Jesus moment, I’ve slept like a baby. I am no longer riddled with guilt, and I can get on with my Life.
• A few times, I didn’t act with integrity or honesty. In the moments where it seemed appropriate, I made sure to realign and tell the truth -- no matter how small the infraction. When course-correcting would have made things worse, I took inventory of how that moment made me feel to ensure I didn’t act in such a way again.

6. Praying helps.

• While I’m responsible for myself and myself only, there is a calming sense of peace when I can leave my prayers in the hands of the higher-ups. Plenty of warmth and solace blanketed over me as I relinquished my daily sorrows and worries to the hands of the big man upstairs.
• Remove religion and the stains that humanity has cast upon it; God and the Universe are so almighty that it’s hard to deny the love felt when you welcome both into your heart.

7. Pay attention.

• Many times, I let the stresses and worries get to my head. I got lost in my mind and tuned out the real world around me. I wasn’t present. I wasn’t there in the moment.
• I also can’t kick myself over this.
• All I can do is sit, listen, watch, enjoy.
• Even when doing so, Life has its little surprises. The numbers 222, 44, 444, 66, 77, and 777 have been everywhere that I look. Angel numbers make my intuition jump for joy, and my heart swell with gratitude.

8. Practice gratitude.

• Despite all the shit that went wrong, I sit down and write the things that went right every day. Small things, big things. It doesn’t matter so long as I am grateful for the gifts that day brought me. That’s all that mattered. That’s all that matters.

8 rules for how I have gotten through these last few months are still mentally sound. Had any of this shit happened back to back in 2020, I might have lost my mind. I couldn’t handle a thing.

2023 me, though, she’s a whole different beast. I am so incredibly capable, humble, funny, and strong.

Adversity shapes a person. Let it shape you into everything you’ve ever wanted.

7:00 PM

(Context: I've been writing every day for almost a year now. Think of this as a diary entry. That's like a memoir, right?

What will the end result of this be? Who the fuck knows. Does it matter? To me, it does. This was an entry from a regular day I had. Enjoy!)