Today, I choose

If you’ve missed it, here’s the start of the post about Today, I choose from my Instagram (@makesunshinetoday)

I’ve had this concept in my mind for the longest time, I designed a few posters and set up an Instagram and even a domain & website. But did nothing with it.

So rather than ummm and ahhhh about the bloody website, I’m just going to share it with you all here. Because DONE is better than perfect, and I still really do believe in the message and want to make THAT the focus.

Today, I choose.

The concept of choice… it offends some people, when we talk about the concept of always having a choice. No, we don’t choose to get horrible disorders. No, we don’t choose how and where and when we’re born. No, we don’t choose for our children to be sick or injured. This is not what I’m talking about.

Our choice is in our behaviour and our response. Our attitude and what we do with what we are given.

I started to use the phrase ‘I choose’ when I started to feel like my anxiety was on the rise again. At first it didn’t make sense to me that I had a choice about my anxiety, because who would choose to feel this way? But the choice was how I react to my anxiety, and what I could do about it as I move forward.

Instead of feeling the dread, I can choose to feel calm.
Instead of feeling like I want to run away, I can choose to move slower.
Instead of acknowledging the sweating, and the heat in my body and the uneasiness, I can choose to acknowledge my gratitude for feeling human and for being alive.

I know, I wasn’t ready to hear this stuff 5 years ago. It just seemed like a crock of crap basically. How dare you tell me that it’s all in my head?!

But here’s what I know – sometimes you need to give your head a chance to figure out how to deal with your body. And maybe having the power ‘all in your head’ isn’t such a bad thing.

What frustrates me the most, is when people feel like they are powerless in their progress. That they don’t play a part in their own success and their own healing process. That it’s up to someone else to fix them. So they keep seeking and searching for more, for the miracle cure and for someone or something to do it for them.

By all means, please talk to your medical professionals! This is entirely important in our health and wellness. Always seek a medical assessment in person, with a doctor you trust. But in the meantime, are YOU taking care YOURSELF?

Are you checking in with yourself and asking yourself what you need? And are you listening?

Whether this has or hasn’t worked for you before, I ask you to try it for a day or even for a week.

Every morning, set an intention. “Today, I choose to feel …  “.

If you know you have a busy day ahead, maybe you choose to feel gratitude for a colourful life.
If you’re not feeling great (still) and the day seems like it’ll just get harder, maybe you choose to feel grateful for another day to try again.
If you’re waiting for the bus, and it’s late and you’re cold, maybe you choose to feel the warmth of your hands in your pockets and just enjoy that for a few minutes more.

Anxiety, and complex medical issues, and car breakdowns and LIFE isn’t as simplistic as I probably make it out to be. I understand that we will all experience many many different shades of sadness and unfairness and toughness in our lives.

But from what I do know, I know that we are ALL stronger and braver than we think. And that we have a choice to turn our mindset around bit by bit. Life is going to happen to and around us, but what we can at least TRY to control is what going on in our minds. With the proper education and practice, the idea of choice becomes alot easier.

Start by setting your intention to feel the way YOU want to feel.

Today, I choose …