“We make plans and God laughs” … This is a paraphrased quote from my good friend Larry Fingleson.
Please understand, this is not a religious post, so stay with me.
How’s your start of the year going? Have you set some plans that are well underway … or maybe set some plans that are already stalling?
In my last blog post I shared a photo of the new emerging me for 2023 with greying hair (now another haircut in and more grey showing … will post update soon).
At about the same time I posted, I had also chosen my intentional aspirational ‘word’ for 2023, which is ‘Vitality’.
My definition of vitality (which is also one of my five core values) has four guiding principles which are:
- To strive to nourish my mind and body in ways that boost my physical and emotional well-being.
- To strive to be present, and mindfully experience more moments that matter more often.
- To strive to find the ‘good’ in life, while acknowledging and accepting the ‘not so good’.
- And to strive to behaviourally make decisions and take actions guided by my values of Vitality, Contribution, Authenticity, Learning and Love.
(Just as an aside, have you clarified your core personal values to help guide you in life’s moments of truth?)
So, as I rapidly approach a full head of grey hair, as you can see in this picture of my knees, ‘God’ or ‘The Universe’ laughed at the part of my plan to nourish my body in ways that boost my physical well-being.
A double whammy of bursitis (apparently caused by over-exercising) and a ruptured ‘bakers’ cyst’ (yep, it’s a thing) have seen me laid up since just before Christmas through to my adventure today to have my knee drained of the excess fluid and a cortisone injection (ouch).
Nope … I’m not looking for pity (but will accept any that comes my way haha) … and yes, I know if this is all I’ve got to complain about, life is ok for me.
I just wanted to share what you already know … setbacks (even the little ones) suck big time – even for an optimist!
So you’re probably thinking I’m going to now move to the bit where I write some motivational and inspirational evidence-based research on how to manage through setbacks.
But nah … to paraphrase a number of motivational gurus, you already know life isn’t easy, and that once we acknowledge and accept it, life gets easier.
For now, I’m acknowledging and accepting that setbacks suck, and for an optimist, I’m ok with that.
Hoping your 2023 is all you want it to be.
Warmly,
