“Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things: for example, death is nothing terrible, for if it were, it would have seemed so to Socrates; for the opinion about death, that it is terrible, is the terrible thing.” Epictetus
“Nothing in life is as important as you think it is while you are thinking about it.” Daniel Kahneman
“Mental toughness is one’s ability to control the stress response.” Doc Potterat
You likely have heard of Epictetus and Danny. Unless you’re from Lockton, you’ve probably not heard of Doc Potterat. He’s the stud doc who is the genius behind making our Navy SEAL’s such a badASS outfit. He along with Epictetus and Danny agree whatever shitstorm you’re in, the real problem is what you’re telling yourself about it – not actually it. For a world class “catastrophizer” like me, this is great news. Here’s what I’ve learned about myself through the years of treating flesh wounds like arterial bleeds (had both, btw, my advice is think quickly about the latter and get to the ER). So what’s my one nugget when caught in, especially negative spirals of thoughts?
Do more. Do more than you think. You can do more than you think.
I believe action is the best antidote to my anxiety. Course correction is my friend. Rarely is my reaction. So, when I inevitably make a mess of things, I tell myself be quicker to repair, quicker to the next action, and so I stop my runaway train of a brain. Had plenty of practice. Most self inflicted. Some not. God, help me do more. God, help me forgive more. God, help me Live hard and Love ❤️ harder. God, help me. Amen.
Do more while you can. Damn…