Life is all about the way we chose to frame our situations. Most of the time in life, we cannot be in full control of what happens in our surroundings or what happens to us even. The past year has especially been an exemplification of this law of the nature of life. The only thing we can choose to have full control over is our mindset and our reaction to the situations life presents us with. The age-old saying “when one door closes, another one opens” is one that has been repeated so often that it may even seem cliche or trite at this point. However, it rings increasingly true with the passage of time, which is why it is a quote we have heard over and over again and will probably continue to hear. The difficulty sometimes lies in being able to identify the new door that has opened. The ability to see the new opportunity has everything to do with our mindset and our will and desire to see it.
Life is full of varying seasons and changes and when one season of our life seemingly comes to an end, whether it was good or bad, it can cause a lot of emotional growing pains and can cause us to want to resist change because a big part of human nature is to fear the unknown. This may cause us to be hesitant about opportunities that may arise. When things don’t go our way and door after door seems to close on us, it is easy to become pessimistic about the future and maybe even start to feel insecure about ourselves for what we perceive as an inability to succeed. We might even be tempted to self-sabotage and hinder our own personal growth. Pessimism makes us only see difficulties and obstacles in every opportunity that is presented to us. Failures are invitations to try again and to reinvent yourself and thus should be considered nothing other than an opportunity. If we choose optimism as our dominant mindset, despite all the countless difficulties we can identify, then we can see every situation as both an invitation and an opportunity. This will lead to us to living fuller lives and will help minimize the strength of the hit we may feel that we are taking when something does not go our way. We do not fixate on the closed door, we do not regret, and we do not fret. Instead, optimism will always allow us to both enjoy the present day and look forward to the future, to the next day, and to the next opportunity.
We are all going to face setbacks and obstacles, but nevertheless we should make it our daily goal to not be so narrow-minded that we allow the obstacles to deter us from going after what we really want and trying again and again to achieve it. An optimistic mindset will help us to not limit ourselves to the happenings in our surroundings and will allow us to take control of our own hearts and minds above all. It is a daily practice and while it is undoubtedly easier said than done, the payoffs will always be worth the effort because the payoff is peace of heart and mind.
