Hi guys! I hope you are all having a fantastic start to your weekend. Mine has less than fantastic unfortunately. I woke up this morning with this awful, immense pain on my right eye. It hurt so bad I could barely keep it open properly. So apologies if this blog-post has some errors in it, but my vision is slightly skewed. Here is a photo, although I know it is quite unsightly, you can see that my right eyelid is very puffy, inflamed and swollen.
I headed to my eye doctor to find out I had a rather serious infection coming on that required antibiotics. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that I’m rather anti-antibiotic because of the devastation they cause to your gut flora. Despite this, I decided to start the course because this thing hurts super bad.
I want to make this post to remind you guys that my life is not all rainbows and butterflies all the times. Crap happens to me too, like everyone else. Life sometimes throws terrible situations at you that you need to just deal with. The good thing is, after you deal with some bad things in your life, it usually helps you become stronger and more grateful for what you have. For this situation, I know that after this awful thing clears up, I will be infinitely more grateful for my vision, and having healthy functioning eyes. This is what is called reframing your mindset and it is very important can help you gain a new perspective on whatever you may be dealing with.
A podcast I have been listening to recently is Happier by Gretchen Rubin.
I recommend this podcast to all of you, as I have found it very insightful and inspiring. She discusses in one of her podcasts, the idea of “This is Actually Good for Me.” So when something happens that you think is horrible and awful, you reframe the situation by saying this is actually good for me somehow. So in my situation, yes it sucks I have this infection, but this is good for me because it will give me time to do my work, relax, meditate, hang out with my family rather than go out and not feel well. I also cannot wear makeup so I am letting my skin breathe and rejuvenate. There is usually always a way for you to turn something around and let it be positive in your life rather than devastating.
Now I’m not going to lie and say this is an easy thing to do. I would much rather NOT have this thing on my eye, but instead of sitting around and feeling sorry for myself, I am going to continue acting with my values and trying to accept circumstances as they are and move on from them. As I said, there is just no possible way to ever believe life is smooth sailing. That’s just the way it is, and what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
So next time you’re in a bad situation, maybe you’re ill, maybe you’re in a fight with your friend, maybe you are super stressed over homework or work or whatever it may be, just remember to try and reframe your situation and look at with a new lens. “Okay, this sucks, BUT….” and fill in the blank. I’m sick right now, BUT I will nourish my body and relax and take care of myself, and as soon as I’m feeling one hundred percent, I will be so grateful for my health and well being. I’m in a fight with my friend right now, BUT I know that we will make up and I will explain to her what she did that made me upset so it won’t happen in the future. I’m very stressed about school right now, BUT I’m going to keep trying my best and go to office hours next week to explain what I’m confused on. Hopefully you get the point. All of the situations are not ideal, but by reframing and saying how these things can actually be good for you in the long run, you completely shift that negative mindset and turn it into a positive one. Try it out!
Also, another thing that I find very helpful, is either writing down or listing in my head everything I am grateful for. This is an incredibly grounding practice that reminds you what REALLY matters in life, and it’s not all the insignificant small problems that crop up, which will all eventually fade. Your friends, family, learning opportunities, health, a roof over your head, a warm bed…those will not fade however, and you need to remember to be grateful for those things and not take them for granted.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Let me know what you think!