Lesson 2: Be positive. Think constructively.

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1975
 Lesson 2 - Be Positive. Think constructively.

Last week I proposed that better people make better anythings. I acknowledged my need to work on being more disciplined. I’ve not been perfect but have managed to be intentional about growing in this category.

This week, I am committing to being more positive, which will demand good and useful thinking if progress is to be made. But if I can be transparent, the struggle is real.

I was a cheerleader back in the day. Ra, Ra! (Please don’t laugh.) We were expected to be wildly
enthusiastic on the sidelines, even if the score was upside down. That required a healthy dose of faking it because, quite frankly, not every contest played by the Pennridge Rams ended up as a W in the stats book.

Likewise, as a multi-sport athlete in both high school and college, successful team play also required an element of positivity. Not only for personal stability but being positive (or not) tipped the scale on how the team functioned as a whole. It wasn’t always easy, especially when circumstances seemed stacked against us.

I acknowledge that my failure to cross the finish line at a couple of 100-mile races was largely due to a head-full of negative thoughts playing bumper cares in my brain. I was suffering. It hurt. It would take way too many hours to finish. I allowed my circumstances to taint my thinking, eventually escorting me to the point of no return.


Even now, on a continuum that includes zero as the midpoint, I am often left of center. Frustrated with a nagging injury that makes training hard, my struggle for daily productivity, and miffed that there is nearly as much hair stuck to my brush bristles as attached to my scalp makes some days seem gray. When friends run faster and longer than ever before, I mourn that I may never again be able to keep up. The thought of being a has-been hurls me further down the negative lane.

Realistically, can I do anything about fast friends or long locks that seem to enjoy their individuality apart from my head? Nope. Hence, it would be futile to dwell on those things though it is so easy (and natural) to do.

But can I adapt my training to optimize what I can do rather than bemoan what I cannot? Am I able to be more intentional about mindful scheduling of my days to be more productive? Is a wig an option should all my hair decide to vacate the premises? Sure. These are simplistic examples of constructive, positive thinking.

You see, being positive does NOT mean that I am forever giddy and cheerful like my cheerleader self in days of old (1975). Rather, being positive requires three things:

1)     Understanding the reality of what can be controlled and what cannot
2)     Developing useful thinking to address the controllable factors of the situation
3)     Being disciplined in managing thought patterns and keeping perspective.

This week I challenge myself in continuing to be disciplined in tandem with solid, positive thinking.

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