Find your compass and get back on course!

A few years back, stress took me down in a big way. I was unable to think straight, or make any decisions, let alone sensible ones! I was surrounded by a dense, dark forest and could not figure my way out. It became so debilitating, that some days I could not even lift myself out of my chair. I suffering from a deep sense of fatigue and any direction I pointed my thoughts, I saw problems, blockages and misery. I remember thinking, that even if I won the lottery, I would not be happy. I allowed myself to be surrounded by so many things that I didn’t want, that I forgot what it was that I did want! I started to become unwell and even became very aware of how externally miserable I was becoming to other people! So much so, that I stopped going out and socialising. And because I had nothing good to say, there was no point in saying anything at all! It was a downward spiral and things only seemed to be getting worse.

So how did I break through it? Well it wasn’t easy, or quick, but it triggered when I was walking along a quiet residential road one day and I saw a mother calling out to her young daughter (about 3 years old). The little girl was stood by on kerb and kept putting her little foot out onto the road. Her mother was calling out to stop her from doing it. There was no real danger around. No cars. It was a very quiet road. But the mother was instinctively worried for her daughter’s safety. The little girl on the other hand was having a great time! To her, going off the kerb was a huge step into the unknown! The road ahead, a vast unexplored landscape! Every time she put her foot on the tarmac, she felt a buzz of adventure… A sense of discovery!

And then it hit me! I suddenly remembered that very same feeling from when I was the same age as the little girl. This was the moment that my life turned a corner. I understood why I was so stressed about everything and so down on myself. I’d stopped looking at my compass! I had lost my direction and I had forgotten my sense of adventure. I had stopped looking for all of the things that made me happy and allowed myself to be surrounded by everything that I didn’t want… So all the rubbish that didn’t want, was all that I could see! But all that I did want want was still there… Just beyond the rubbish.

I was now aware of how to fix the problem in my head. Fixing the external problems that I had caused in my life however, would take a little longer and I would use these experiences as building blocks. It did take a while, but in my head I had taken a leap forward in time and had a 360 degree vision of what my future needs to look like… And nothing would get in the way. Well actually lots tried to get in the way. Lets face it. I had spent a long time building a castle of rubbish around me. But now in my head, all I could see was the future. Nothing else was real any more. Strangely, the only thing that was real to me was the very thing that was not yet a physical reality.

You see, the world is only as we see it as an individual. Some want to live a humble life and will be content with the basic requirements. This to them is how the world is and should be. While others believe the world to be a dangerous and spiteful place, where everything is a fight or conflict. And although I’ve never been to space, I’m sure that every astronaut will have an entirely different view of the world to the rest of us down here.

We all have our own view of the world. And the only way others can influence or even change it, is if we give them permission to. Sometimes we need to. We are not always right! But happiness is yours and my god given right… and the only way anyone can take that away is if we let them!

So it all boils down to this one final thought… However real the world is, we all create our own little version of it. So if we choose to see only misery and allow ourselves to be surrounded by it, then that will become our world. But if we create a reality – that is a vision of all that we want and start to use every experience as a building block to a great life, we can find our compass and get back on course… And with a little willpower, determination and a sprinkle of belief… Our own personal little versions of the world will be a much MUCH better place to be.