Tuesday, July 14, 2009

M2 | CONTEST | Day 73

Dealing with what life throws at you…..

When you are routine, system and plan driven like I am things like countrywide network breakdowns play havoc with my intentions and my head.

I am limited to what I can do and I do not like to be out of control of my own life.

However, life is a funny thing, and it sometimes gets in the way of what you think you are going to be doing, on purpose.

The other thing that has had me in a spin is my passport issue.

I have, as we speak three people in three different countries trying to help me get my travel document sorted before next weekend.

I have been working on this every day since I went to the British consulate in Pretoria a couple of weeks ago.

I have a friend in Scotland organizing birth certificates …a friend in Zimbabawe doing the same thing with parents marriage documents and a ‘connection’ in Zambia organizing other birth certificates etc.

Now these documents are ‘ mission critical ‘ and without them I am going nowhere. I have to rely on these people to do what needs to be done whilst I sit here in Johannesburg with network failures and no way of communicating.

So while I’m sitting here applying the ‘circle of influence’ theory which says….Do not stress about stuff which is outside your circle of influence. Narrowed down…I cannot do anything about the erratic networks and I can do nothing about documents in other countries.

What I can do is firstly remain calm and refrain tearing hair out and gnashing of teeth, from smashing things all over the place and getting involved in road rage incidents around Johannesburg which are common.

I can also accept total responsibility for this and accept that if I had started this process months ago like I should have, I wouldn’t be in this mess.

I can also keep on chasing my ‘ connections’ to make sure they don’t let too much time pass whilst organizing the documents necessary to renew the passport.

The only other thing I can do is a lot of positive visualization, manifesting that the passport is going to be ready and asking God to make a way where there is no way.

I am also training flat out and eating super clean as if nothing was wrong. Also, the ONLY thing to do

So…. out of adversity, I have learned a few lessons, had a few reminders and challenged myself to remain calm under extreme pressure.

I’m happy….and….LIFE GOES ON, whether it works for me or it doesn’t.

How bout you? Do you deal with stuff life throws at you in the right way or do you lose the plot.



4 comments:

Margaret2007 said...

This is the biggest issue I deal with, Dougal...Not reacting to stress by soothing myself with food. I don't throw things, I (used to) stuff things...Deep breath, now another...and the statement about accepting only what I have influence over hits me square between the eyes! It's been so much better and ironically things have worked out more beautifully than I could have imagined...Wow, I'm not the Higher Power who knows what should/shouldn't be done! I will leave it to Him. Each day I will make the decision all over again to do the same to restore sanity to this wild existence!

All the best,
Margaret

dougal said...

Margaret, so nice to see you again and thank you for posting a comment.

Unknown said...

Wow, the fat is just melting off of you and you're looking amazing. Hope all is sorted in a timely fashion with your passport, and I can so relate to "dealing with what life throws at you". It reminds me of a quote I read today "you cannot tailor-make the situations in life, but you can tailor-make the attitudes to fit those situations. If you rest you rust".
Diane

dougal said...

Thank you so much...I'm working very hard...and thanks for the comment