Mindset Practice
A practice to address your emotions and manage to maximize advantageous outcomes!
Unexpected Situations …
Usually, people consider how we deal with an unexpected situation says a lot about us. Although it doesn’t happen every day, when it does, it’s a test of how we can handle it.
When I talk about mindset rebuild, I mean how we can rebuild a better, more positive, and more of a growth mindset. But emotions sometimes get in the way of learning and rebuilding, so how we can manage our emotions is crucial.
On the way to work yesterday, an ear-piercing signal suddenly went on. I saw a red battery sign showed on my dashboard. My heart was pounding, and fear and anxiety crept into my mind. My voice, both the inner and externally, short loudly,
“What is that?”
I may not know much, but the battery alert shouldn’t be on while the car moves; this could indicate something more serious.
The next question:
What should I do?
Luckily, the maintenance center is close to my office; I calm myself and keep praying in my heart: “Just keep going till the center, you will be fine!”
Arrived, however, fears and anxieties didn’t go away!
When you’re used to something, it’s not easy to go through the day without it. This theory definitely applies to my car and me. Besides, I was anxious about how much the repair will cost. When it’s unexpected, the cost can be, too! Especially when the specialist told me that it would be quite expensive; the word “quite” is scary!
With all of the above’s unexpected situations together, one thing you can expect; that’s frustration.
I was surprised as I didn’t get much frustrated. Interestingly, I smiled and laughed at how blessed I was when I arrived safely. I let my conscious mind and my subconscious emotions have some communication while the specialist was checking my car. And it went like this:
Subconscious: I am frustrated, not only because of the cost to repair, but without the car, I can’t do what I usually do every day!
Conscious: I understand your frustration, and it’s normal to feel this way.
Subconscious: What should I do now? Should I let it repair? What if it’s so expensive that I don’t want to repair it?
Conscious: Hey, listen! You know I am with you. It happened and what we can do now is to find the solution. Let’s not get frustrated so that we can make the best decision together.
My mind finally came to an agreement. The quotation went for a few hours, and I am blessed with a few things. First, I didn’t let the frustration affect my work in the morning, second, the cost was not as high as I expected (a good type of unexpected thing), and last, I learned that I have a way of managing my emotions and achieve the best possible outcomes.
Furthermore, a few lessons that I learned:
- Nothing last forever, absolutely not a machine, or let’s say, a car.
- When any situation is unexpected, good or bad, we manage to calm ourselves first so we see how we can best handle it.
- Self-talk is never only about encouraging and motivating yourself; it is worth trying to communicate with your inner emotions and your conscious mind.
The hardest part is listening to our authentic inner voice and having the emotions expressed intrinsically. Most of our emotions come with our thoughts; they work simultaneously to help our decision-making. Perhaps we have been taught that expressing emotions is not good, but I believe we should acknowledge them because emotions still develop no matter what we do. Emotions are part of us; the best way is to build our ability to address them, acknowledge the functions they perform, and manage them for the best use.
Before ending this article, when I keep thinking about the word unexpected, I keep thinking: does everything either unexpected or expected? Or actually, we are sometimes, just being in-between the two?
I believe that as how our brain helps us to predict our every moment in the next future, it’s hard not to have expectations. However, our brains also enjoy having surprises and novelties; when we have fewer expectations, especially those we put on others, we can enjoy more wonders.
I hope that sharing my experience may help some of you!
