As I migrated the blog over, I couldn’t help but notice the decline in the frequency of my posts over the last couple of years. Then, I saw a pattern. Since March ’07 I’ve been tracking the relative progress of a particular situation in my life on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, as you can see, that situation (the blue line) hasn’t been going well. The interesting thing, is when I superimpose the number of blog posts per month (the green line) on that chart, you notice the obvious correlation.
Back in October ’07, I wrote a “Why I haven’t been blogging” post and the #1 reason has (roughly) held true over the last 2 years. This chart makes it even more obvious that even after trying to remediate the situation, I continued to let it affect my general happiness which has been my biggest mistake all along.
The more I tried to fix the situation, the worse it seemed to get. At the beginning of October, I realized I had to let go. Letting go is really hard to do, especially when it’s something important. Letting go is tough because it almost feels like giving up and I hate to give up.
I was reminded of a quote one of my mentors shared with me: “What you resist will persist.“ Although much of the situation was out of my control, I got the sinking feeling that I was partially to blame as I didn’t expect it to improve. The amazing thing is that as soon as I let go, things have almost immediately started picking up. I’m not stressed, I’m not bothered, I’m not even tracking the blue line anymore!
Lessons learned?
If you’re going through a rough patch or things aren’t working the way you want/expect, you need to focus on something else; something positive. Stop focusing on what’s going wrong: the more you focus on the negative, the more negative you’ll attract. I’ve always been an extremely positive person and have generally attracted positive things, so this has definitely been an eye opening experience for me! Over the last 2 months, I’ve been attracting a lot of good things, so let’s hope this keeps up!!
Technorati: 34VQD3UAPJD7
You are such a nerd ! (Typed with hint of admiration & envy)
@Daphnethegreat – Dude! I’m a consultant! I can’t help but track everything and then observe trends!! lol
Where is the Like button?!
I’ve been going through a slump lately too, so I think I can relate to what you mean somewhat. It really feels like there is no end in sight and the more I brood about it the worse I feel, and yet I don’t know how to drag myself out of it. Hopefully it will all end soon for good when I finish this degree, I like to think that most of my worries stem from trying to finish up a phd in the same year that I lost my dad.
Right, apologies for the emo comment, glad to know that you’re okay
@Hooman – Glad you liked it! I forgot to activate the “Retweet” plugin I installed, so that’s also a single click to show you like it!
@Darwin – No need to apologize for the comment! I’m happy to see you back!
I’ve been fortunate that my situation has not been nearly as bad as losing a loved one, so I really can’t complain!
You’re exactly right about feeling worse the more you brood about it. You need to make an effort to focus on what’s going well and really do you best (although it’s tough) to let go of what’s not working and hopefully you’ll start to see improvements! I know I did!
Hopefully you’ll be able to come to this site for some positive energy!
Cheers!