I believe people are predisposed to a certain type of attitude. I have minimal scientific evidence for this, but observation suggests that some people are always happy, no matter what, and some are less than happy, no matter what.
In looking at myself, after active duty I seemed to be high for about 8 months. I had energy, time, a new lease on life, and nothing could stop me. But now, almost 2 years after, I'm back to feeling busy, somewhat stressed, and things get to me. Nothing's really changed since I retired, yet my outlook is different. I wonder if I'm one of those predisposed to feeling less than happy?
Also, in my observations, I've learned we can train ourselves a bit. This month I'm facing some challenges at work, handling projects that require lots of buy in, negotiation, and are high targets for criticism. I've been waking up not really looking forward to facing the challenges these projects present.
Today, however, as I felt that doom and gloom, I reflected on a colleague's words that suggested I have time to dwell on the negative, and therefore I do. With that reflection, I asked myself what positive things I could dwell on. I started thinking about my my coworkers and how I can help them. I started to think about being a benefit to all those I contacted. In less than a minute, my outlook changed and now my projects were challenges to take on, instead of failures to dread.
Many things in life aren't easy, but I think we can change our outlook to make them seem easier.
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