Past and Curious

 

It was a whole day out with family. Before lunch we hit the book shop for our final purchases of the year. The shop was more than willing to give us discounts. In fact we bought books for all my family members ( in-laws , wife , daughters).  I picked a non fiction book on leadership and a self help book, my in laws picked up an autobiography and a book on history, my elder one picked up a crime thriller, my younger one picked up a super hero book and I handed over my wife a writing book in addition to a classic sci – fi book. Our book choices summarised the year 2017 for me. We had a rollercoaster year.

Let me see if I can touch each one of these emotions and what I learned  personally.

Beginning with anger. This is the year I learned how to manage my anger. The way I reconcile my anger these days is to understand this emotion and how it is affecting me. In one conference call, I was literally losing my control. I realised that I was not speaking fluently and also I was not comfortable sitting and talking. I roamed around in my balcony. The way I dealt with this was by understanding the situation and then relaxing my posture with a deep breath. Then I asked this question “Is this situation serving me good or bad?” I then decided to flip the switch.

The definition of Disgust goes like this “Disgust is an emotional response of revulsion to something considered offensive, distasteful, or unpleasant.” This year I had a couple of instances where I had openly shown disgust. I was not aware while this was happening from my side. Then I got some feedback from my circle of friends and I became aware of it. The way I am dealing with disgust now is by carefully picking up words and using the language appropriately.

Sadness hit us like a ton of bricks. It is one of the most difficult years for our family. Nonetheless I felt very good being with my family and giving them all the support. It is these times which tests our mettle.

So how did I handle Fear? I was so worried about what will be the response to my blogs and Videos. There was the fear of being criticized. It is easy now. I fend for criticism (constructively). The way I overcame fear was with a shift in identity. I am a person who is a learner and willing to go the extra mile to get all the inputs which can take me on that path which leads me to my goals.

Surprise, I learned it from my father undoubtedly. I learned to surpise myself everyday by getting out of bed and making the bed everyday. A new habit picked up this year. Another was to suprise myself with the discipline of running inspite of repeated voices inside you pushing to miss the same. Surprise is an important emotion to cultivate to reframe.

Joy is the thing I have experienced when I was in the company of my family, friends Toastamasters,  TILTERS  & some colleagues. It was good that we captured some things on camera. Laughter is contagious and I always look for more opportunities to laugh.

I was thinking how do I summarise 2017? I found the answer. Handling this rollercoaster year made me emotionally fit. How fit you are emotionally for 2018 ?