Today marks the 13th anniversary of my Second Life Day. Thirteen years ago, I was given a second chance at life and I am grateful each and every day for what happened. I’ve written about the experience in detail a few years ago, so I won’t rehash that for today’s post.

(If you are interested in knowing more, you can read the full tale in a multi-post blog series linked at the bottom of this post.)

Over the past three mornings, I’ve gotten up and jumped into work as usual, but I’ve been feeling a little out of sorts to start off the day. I had a couple of nights of less-than-ideal sleep patterns which definitely played a part in how I was feeling. I knew that, left unchecked, my moods would continue throughout the day and ruin them both for myself and for the people I interacted with. You see, I can be a moody little bitch sometimes. it’s okay. I’ll own up to it. Thankfully, I am relatively self-aware and usually will notice when I’m feeling off or, worst-case scenario, when I’ve gone too far and am just being bitter, angry and frustrated with everything. I’ve spent a great deal of time over the past couple of years learning to turn the focus onto myself; to observe how I feel, how I am acting, how I am RE-acting.

When I’ve realized over the past three mornings that I was in that particular mental state, I took a moment to step back and ask myself an important question – “Is this how you want to spend your energy today?” The answer has been unequivocally, NO! So I’ve taken my mood and energy-levels into my own hands, and I decided to change my perspective on the day. Whether through a few minutes of directed breathing, listening to some spiritually uplifting music, taking a walk with my wife on lunch, or just being stubborn enough to shift my vibe, I’ve managed to pull myself out of that morning funk and end the day on a positive note, usually having been nicely productive throughout the afternoon.

These past few days have given me pause to stop and look back at how things have been going as of late. I’ve managed to tie in some of the learnings from the self-development program I am doing with what’s going on, but I need a bit more time to put all of the pieces together. I’ll circle back to this topic in my next blog post.

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How about you? Do you sometimes find yourself feeling at the end of your rope, wondering how you can do whatever it is you’re doing for even another minute? Are you even feeling like you’re lost in a quagmire of negative thoughts, like it’s weighing you down? What do you do to help get yourself out of that mindset? Share your ideas and thoughts with me.