Monday, July 6, 2020: Using Your Will as a Tool

image courtesy of EliasSch via pixabay.com

We’re not doing a list this month, again. With a pandemic still raging amidst reckless re-openings and people who are too selfish and stupid to take the most basic precautions, a basic To Do list, for me, adds more of the negative stress and does not make me feel secure and functional.

If list-making and crossing items off as you do them makes you feel better during this time, then, by all means, please do it. We have to make the individual decisions to get us through this as long as they don’t harm others.

Refusing to wear a mask and social distance causes harm.

Making or not making a list does not.

There’s a huge difference.

There are things that HAVE to happen in the scheme of my universe over the next few months. I am out of time. The fact that I’ve been ill (non-COVID-related) and there’s a pandemic doesn’t change that certain changes are coming.

What I have to do is pull myself out of feeling helpless, angry, and in despair, and feed all of those emotions into my will so that I can use my will as a tool to get done what needs to be done, in spite of additional obstacles.

It means, for me, strengthening boundaries. It means NOT letting things go that are harmful, just to avoid confrontation. Too many people are taking advantage of what’s going on to claim that whatever they’re thinking and feeling takes priority over anyone and everyone else’s needs, and that working together for a collective good gives them, somehow, less.

Have you noticed, these are the same people who behave this way when things were so-called “normal”?

What do you NEED?

Not want but need. Those are different, and far too many people think the minute they want something, it’s a need. It is not.

What steps to you have to take to fulfill that need WITHOUT causing harm to those around you?

Again, too many people believe that if they are inconvenienced, or if they have to change “what they’ve always done” in some way because not changing causes harm, THEY are being harmed. That’s simply not the case.

What do you NEED?

What actions do you have to take to fulfill that need without harming others?

How will you go about fulfilling the need?

What is your timeline? How much of it is decided by external factors you can’t control, and how much can you control?

How does that change your action steps?

When you feel like you just can’t anymore, take a breath, take a step back. Rest. Recharge. Maybe you can only do so for a few hours. Look at the issue from a different angle. Look for a different approach that will fulfill your need without causing harm.

Change your action steps as needed.

Dig deep and WILL it to become a reality through your actions. Wishing won’t make it real. DOING will.

My month of July will be filled with searching for answers and appropriate actions to these steps.

Because there are several issues on which I’m running out of time, and only through using my will as a tool and taking action will I be able to chart my own course, rather than be forced into something I don’t want, that will cause harm to me and my family.

Best of luck with July.

What are you working on?