The Only Thing You Have Control Over Is Your Reaction To What Happens In Life

elizabeth lies

A lot of things have felt like they’ve been going wrong in my life lately because they have. I could give you a laundry list but that wouldn’t make it any better for either of us. I’ve come to realize something as I’ve been sitting down alone all day with my thoughts and it’s something I’ve always known but never shed much light on.

I realized everything could be going wrong for me but I don’t have control over those things. I can’t control those things. The only thing I have control over is how I react to the things that are going wrong.

I don’t have control over what goes wrong, what other people do or decide. I only have control over my actions, choices and reactions.

I can throw my hands in the air, sit on the floor while crying into a Ben & Jerry’s pint (I did) but nothing changed after that. Sure, I felt a little relief from letting out all the emotions I’ve been burying and ignoring but nothing improved, nothing got better. I was still in the same situation. Hell, I’m still in the same situation but I’m actively trying to change the situation I’m now in.

I’m actively trying to make the best of what’s uncontrollably happening around me. I’m trying to not hold on to the stress, the anger, the frustration, the fear. I’m trying to let it all go because clinging to it is doing me no good. Clinging to it is harboring and holding on to the stress creating more of it.

I can’t change the things that have happened, the emotions that I’ve felt, the situations at hand but what I can change is my reaction to it all. I can decide to stay positive even though I feel like everything is crushing me. I can decide to do everything in power to help me get out of the situation I’m in. I can decide that instead of feeling sorry for myself I am going to do something about it.

Letting your emotions control you is easy. It’s easy to do and say things in the heat of the moment that you regret down the line. It’s easy to get worked up and create an even worse situation for yourself because the only thing we have control over is how we react to the situations at hand.

You don’t have control over what happens to you in life but you do have control over how you respond to what happens.

It’s a simple yet important reminder.

It’s important to just breathe because things will work out somehow, they always do.

It’s time to let go of what you can’t control and accept what you can control, including your reaction to the situations in front of you. Thought Catalog Logo Mark

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