“For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9
I control how I view my situation.
Have you ever heard the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”? Most of the time when we think about this phase we think about attraction to another person. But it doesn’t always have to be about who we find attractive or not. It can also be applied to how we view anything around us. The potential in a house we want to rent or buy, the location of a job, whether a glass is half empty, or half full. All this phrase means is that the way something looks depends on who’s looking at it.
I have to do this often when I’m having my anxious moments. I look at my situations and sometimes they feel bleak, or scary, or disappointing. When that happens, I tend to catastrophize and then that makes things look and feel even worse. So I have to change my perspective and look at things another way. I have to reframe. Reframing is a simple thing to do, even though it can be hard to either take the first step or to accept the reframe. Sometimes something can be so daunting that trying to see it differently doesn’t seem plausible. It’s when you tell yourself it doesn’t matter if you look at it differently, it won’t make it different, that causes you trouble. But what if I were to tell you that it can make it different. How? Let’s affirm.
Affirmation 1: I control how I view my situation. There’s always another way to look at things. Half empty vs half full. The silver lining in a storm cloud. A blessing in disguise. These are all reframes that have been used all around us to help us change our view of a situation. See the blessings instead of the downfalls and make a conscious effort to control how you see things. You can do this!
Affirmation 2: Thinking the worst only makes it worse. When you catastrophize a situation you don’t actually change the circumstances of the situation. What you do change, however, is your heartrate, your anxiety level, and your ability to handle things. And that can change everything. Having a calm, rational presence in difficult situations will improve your ability to get out of that difficulty every time, so take some deep breaths, think about the positives instead of the negatives, and work your way back to normal.
Affirmation 3: This is just a chapter, not the whole story. Remember that only God knows the whole of your story, and this part you’re in is just that: a part. He is the author and the finisher and can see what you can’t see so fretting now could impact the other parts you don’t yet see. Take comfort in knowing you don’t have to have it all figured out because your job is just to get through right now. And I know you can.
My beloveds, take a moment to just breathe and just be. Reframe your thoughts and viewpoints and things will work themselves out with a rational mind and time. It’s ok to feel afraid, or nervous, or unsure. Honor those feelings and let that moment pass in the time it needs to without prolonging it unnecessarily. My prayer for you is that reframing makes those moments easier and much more manageable in the future. I love you, and as always, I’m rooting for you. Keep conquering daily!
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