The Anxious Therapist

“Don’t make a permanent decision for your temporary emotion.” People don’t make mistakes, they make decisions and choices. When someone makes a bad decision or the “wrong” choice, they like to mask the ugliness with a more delicate term. If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck…

Own your bad decisions.

Failure isn’t fatal or final, and failing at something doesn’t make you a failure.

The toughest advice to follow is your own. It’s so much easier to preach than it is to practice. So lead by example because talk is cheap. “Words may show a man’s wit, but his actions show his meaning.” And what you say about others definitely shows more of your character than the person you’re speaking of.

“Happiness is a direction, not a destination.” You can choose any emotion you want. “Happiness depends upon ourselves.” Let yourself be happy. Choose happiness. Smile. Letting others dictate your emotions is giving other people the power to control you. And blaming others for how you feel is giving them entirely too much credit; it’s a cop-out on your part and it’s completely discrediting any sort of control and power you have over yourself and your emotions.

There is nothing wrong with being your own toughest critic… so long as you remain your OWN toughest critic. “If you’re doing your best, you won’t have any time to worry about failure.” Perfection, by anyone’s standards BUT YOUR OWN, is unattainable, but (thankfully) it’s subjective. So, create- and stick to!- your own kind of perfect. “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”

Smile. And choose happiness.