In case you didn’t know, a few weeks ago I broke my foot. Yep. Seriously. Not kidding.
I was in Tennessee helping my mom and dad get ready for their move, and I missed a step coming down the front porch and totally broke my left foot.
Breaking your foot would be an inconvenience for almost anybody, but especially someone who works on their feet all day. And even though I spend a lot of time on the phone or behind my computer, I broke my foot in the middle of my busiest season…
Convention season.
That means that at all my events over the last several weeks, I’ve either had to sit down on stage while delivering my presentation or push through the pain and try to put most of my weight on my right foot.
I have to admit, when it happened, I felt defeated. I was sitting in the emergency room, watching the doctor fit me with a boot, and I felt totally and utterly bummed out.
In the first few days of that break, I had slipped into a negative and pessimistic mindset. I was saying things like:
- “Well, there goes my entire summer.”
- “Guess I won’t be making it out on the boat as much as I had wanted to.”
- “My presentations on stage aren’t going to be as engaging or exciting.”
- “How am I going to stay on top of my exercising and walking?”
- “It’s going to take me twice as long to do anything.”
- “I don’t want to ask anyone for help.”
- “I’m probably going to lose money because I can’t be at my best.”
- “This. Freaking. Sucks.”
And while it does in fact – well – suck. I knew I couldn’t stay in this pity party for too long. Why? Because it wasn’t going to serve me or get me any closer to my goals.
I had to seriously reframe my thinking and take a step back and get real with myself; I had to ditch the drama.
Ever take a bad situation and make it worse by complaining nonstop about it?
Yep. I think we’ve all been there.
The fact is, stewing in your own misery isn’t going to get you anywhere. It’s actually going to keep you stuck or worse – moving backwards.
Think about a GPS for example; pretty sophisticated piece of equipment if I do say so myself. Not only does a GPS give you directions to where you want to go, it can estimate time arrival, tell you where there are roadblocks or road closures and even keep you informed on traffic.
But even with this sophisticated piece of equipment giving you step-by-step instructions, have you ever taken a wrong turn anyway?
I have.
And when you do, what does the GPS say?
Recalculating.
It doesn’t say, “You’re a loser, go home.”
It simply says recalculating and gets you back on track.
This summer, I had to do some serious recalculating. I couldn’t let my inner mean girl tell me that breaking my foot sucks, my summer sucks and everything else, ever, is going to suck.
I had to take that list I mentioned earlier and change my thoughts:
- “Well, there goes my entire summer” became “I’m going to have a great time being creative this summer with my activities. Maybe I’ll try a difficult puzzle with the family or read some books I’ve been interested in.”
- “Guess I won’t be making it out on the boat as much as I had wanted to” became “I can still definitely sit on the boat and enjoy time with my family; I just won’t be able to walk around as much.”
- “My presentations on stage aren’t going to be as engaging or exciting” became “I’m going to have to come up with new ways to engage the audience while sitting. I am going to take some time to watch talk shows like Ellen to see how she captivates an audience while sitting.”
- “How am I going to stay on top of my exercising and walking?” became “What are some upper body exercises I can do while sitting? Does physio have any work-outs they want me to be doing to rehabilitate my foot?”
- “It’s going to take me twice as long to do anything” became “Can I find new ways of doing things that might be a little more difficult for me to do?”
- “I don’t want to ask anyone for help” became “What a great opportunity to train my new assistant on some new tasks.”
- “I’m probably going to lose money because I can’t be at my best” became “I am going to prove to myself and to my clients that I can still ROCK a presentation from a chair. It absolutely will not affect my business or income. Plus, I will make sure I ask for a chair behind my product table so I can rest.”
- “This. Freaking. Sucks” became “This. Too. Shall. Pass.”
And guess what? Even though it’s been a little bit more difficult, it certainly hasn’t been the end of the world. My presentations have been great, the feedback and support has been amazing and I am actually slowing down this summer and enjoying sitting with my family on our brand new patio.
Remember, everything is figure-out-able.
XOXO,
Belinda