One step at a time

The past few months haven’t been the easiest for me from a physical and medical standpoint. 

I’ve been having back problems and some ankle pain, so I haven’t been able to work out, go running or even long walks.

Working out is one of the activities which helps me to unwind and decrease my stress and anxiety, so not being able to exercise has been very frustrating.

On top of that, I was recently made aware of a few other medical issues that I have had to deal with. I got some test results yesterday which prompted an immediate need for further testing.

The combination of these afflictions resulted in my feeling extremely emotional, defeated, discouraged and overwhelmed yesterday.

It was in the midst of my sob-fest last night that I realized that my feelings of anxiety and frustrating were a choice.

Considering there is nothing I can do about any of the issues I have been diagnosed with, it is up to me to make the choice about the attitude I have when facing these current issues and any and all future issues I will encounter as I get older.

This realization got me thinking about how some things are just out of your control.

As a control freak, I have a hard time accepting this as a fact of life. But aside from the stretches and exercises I can do in physical therapy to help improve my back and ankle, the rest of the issues are beyond my ability to control, influence or change.

It pains me to think of how many hours I’ve wasted throughout the course of my life stressing over things I have no control over.

And although I know it’s easier said than done, I have a choice.

When faced with problems, be they emotional, physical or medical, we all have a choice about how we want to handle and deal with them.

We can decide to stress over them, or we can decide to choose happiness and keep plugging away. 

We can worry over what might happen, or we can take things one step a time.

It took me until today to realize that stressing over things we can’t control does nothing but breed stress.

My anxiety and frustration over these medical issues didn’t do anything but make me feel bad.

My worrying and crying didn’t do anything to improve my condition or fix the issues I had to deal with; if anything, it only made them worse.

So, although I’ll be the first to admit that it’s easier said than done,

Sometimes you just have to suck it up, choose happiness, and enjoy the now.

Despite my thinking that assuming the worst will make me prepared for what might happen, that isn’t the case.

Instead of jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst, I am learning to stay present and just take things one step at a time.