Carrot, Egg or Tea Bag?

A few days ago, sobrang discouraged ako kasi wala ako masyadong sales sa sticker shop ko. Kung meron akong one thing na gustong mangyari sa future, yun ay maging successful ang sticker shop business ko. But apparently, it’s not happening. So yun, malungkot, ang daming doubts.

Possibilities

Sabi ko pa nung minsan, eto na yung last attempt ko at pag hindi pa rin nag-workout, stop na. But after kong makinig sa podcast na ‘to, nag-shift yung mindset ko. Sobrang powerful for me nung sinabi ni Sam. I will paraphrase and add some things:

“During times of anxiety, it’s usually because we’re worried about the future. We just don’t know what’s going to happen and our minds like filling those gaps. Anxiety thrives on uncertainty. It could be that we’re waiting for a certain outcome to happen tomorrow or in a week, or just generally worried about what would happen a year or 5 years from now.

But realize this: Right here right now, there are two possibilities that could happen in the future. A positive future or a negative future. One possibility is that you would not get this thing that you want, but the flip side is you would actually get the thing. Both possibilities exist. So if both are possible, which possibility are you tuning into?“

UGHHH YES! Sa aling possibility nga ba ako usually nag-ga-gravitate?? Kung pareho naman palang posible, ba’t di na lang dun sa positive? Less worries at mas makakaganda pa sa mental health ko.

Change your state

So pag nasa stressful situations daw tayo or heightened yung emotions natin, we think that we have to immediately change our situation or we have to get this thing ASAP to feel okay again. Yung challenge daw ay, change your state first. Tapos saka tayo gumawa ng action. Kasi kung action agad, eh since nasa pangit na state pa nga tayo, baka hindi lang maging aligned yung gagawin nating action sa result na gusto nating mangyari. But the question is, pano mababago yung state natin? Di naman ganun kadali yun.

May magandang analogy si Gina na prinesent. Parang isang train lang daw na sobrang bilis ng takbo. Kung kelangan nung train na mag-change ng direction, kelangan nya munang bumagal bago makaliko ng smoothly. Kasi kung galing sa mabilis na takbo at bigla na lang syang kakanan, it will cause an accident. Kaya importante na mag-pause muna. When we slow down, we are changing our state.

Pangalwang tanong, how do we slow down? There are numerous ways at yung samples na binigay nila ay: listen to music, do a silly dance, journal, cry, yoga, meditate. So for me, yung automatic at madali para sakin ay journaling.

Boiling Water

May isa pa. Si Gina naman ‘to. Paraphrase ko ulit:

“Are you a carrot, egg or tea bag? (coffee bean talaga yung original pero hindi ako umiinom ng kape so..) If you put those things in boiling water, the boiling water will soften the carrot. The egg will harden. And the tea bag will change the water. Boiling water = our life experience.

When handling adversities, are you going to be a carrot, egg or tea? Which thing are you going to be? Are you going to let life experiences soften or weaken you? Harden or make you stiff? Or are you going to take charge and change your current state?”

I want to be a tea bag!! So yun. Sobrang much needed yung mga sinabi sa podcast na ‘to.

Kaya ngayon, I would not limit myself dun sa sinabi kong “last attempt” ko na sa shop ko. Ang dami pang pwedeng maging possibilities. Bakit ba dun sa possibility of failing ako nagli-lean towards lagi?! So para maiba naman, dun ako sa positive future maniniwala ngayon. Yay!

PS: Sa lahat ng sinabi ko dito. Pwede syang i-summarize into one phrase which is, “Think positive!” Pero nakakairitang pakinggan yang cliché na yan. As if ganun kadaling mag-switch. Yung isa pang nakakainis eh, “Claim it!” Ewan ko naiirita talaga ko. Kaya mas magandang himayin at pagusapan sa ganitong way para di ko ma-feel na para akong robot na dapat maging okay agad-agad.