Attitude is Everything

With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, there will be a barrage of thankful posts on social media. There will be more of these around Christmas time. While there is a lot to be thankful for, this is not one of those posts. It is a post to help remember that is highly important to maintain a positive attitude.

When I was very young, I was smaller than other kids, I had thick glasses and always had a book in my hands. My knees were regularly skinned by being pushed down on the playground or falling while trying to do things that I saw other kids doing. I was perfectly content sitting outside working on needlepoint, or reading a book. Fortunately, I was blessed with parents who knew the importance of play and activity in a young person's world. They planted the mental seeds of rising to challenges and perseverance. So no matter how many times I fell down trying to climb a tree that everyone else climbed easily, I tried again, repeatedly. I had no idea, at the time, that I was building a good attitude.

Between the pandemic, the political drama, and the social climate in this country right now, there is a lot to be stressed about. Fear not, I am not going to get political or opinionated about the current state of things. As my grandmother would say, there are times when silence is golden. It would be easy to have a negative attitude because of everything that is going on. We could complain loudly and expend our energies claiming wounds or worse yet allow others to drain our strength with their shouting. We could shrink and withdraw from the world in fear. We could shut out those who are trying to help. Or we can take ownership of our outcome by choosing to have a good attitude.

It is precisely times like these when our most powerful weapon is our attitude. It drives our choices and raises our energy level. Having a good attitude is not saying everything is rosy when bad things are happening. It means saying that, yes things may be difficult but we can handle this. It is accepting help when we need to and admitting that we need help in the first place. I was raised to believe in God and to believe that He gives us what we need when we need it. I have come to realize that a good attitude also means accepting God's response to our prayers, even if His answer is no or not now. Not everyone believes in God and that is their personal choice. A good attitude also means accepting that people have their own opinions, whether those match ours or not. There are times that this is much harder than anything. Choosing to acknowledge another person's opinion and accepting their feedback may be the last thing we want to do. But in choosing to do this, we can better direct our energy to the task at hand, whatever that task may be.

Choosing to have a good attitude is not always easy. It can make a person vulnerable to others' negative attitudes and actions. It is not always the most popular response to problems and is frequently misunderstood. But having a good attitude can make the difference between overcoming a challenge or being overcome by it. So, as it says in the title of this post, attitude is everything.