WHOSE ON THE HOOK FOR YOUR HAPPINESS?

Is it your partner? Your kids? Your friends?

This is one of the most important mindset shifts to make in order to start taking control of your life and set yourself on the path that is leading you to where you want to go and who you want to be.

Take a moment, grab your journal if you have one, or maybe make a note in your phone. When you think about what impacts your happiness day to day, what ruins your day, what drives your emotional experiences?

Bottom line is... we are the only ones who should be in control of our happiness.

I'm not saying that your partner, your kids, your friends, your dog, shouldn't bring you happiness.

I'm saying they shouldn't be in the driver seat. YOU should be.

You should be proactively taking the reigns on your own well being, because its YOUR life. It's your choice how you are going to perceive your life day to day. It's YOUR choice if you are going to find happiness in the small moments and choose gratitude when you wake up in the morning amidst the chaos. We have to DECIDE how we are going to experience each day. PRIME ourselves and our brains to expect good things and experiences.

We can wake up and say to ourselves "today is going to be a good day," OR we can wake up and say "I had the worst sleep, my head hurts, I have a million things to do today, I've already slept in so I'm behind....." we all have that narrative mastered (I know I did). I was the QUEEN of excuses, complaining, blaming, you name it. If I had a bad day it was everyone else's fault BUT mine. I had a narrative of just having "bad luck" and "bad things just happen to me so I'm not surprised."

If you can take ownership of your happiness and claim it as yours for the taking any day, every day, it will change your life. I know it changed mine.

Suddenly the shift of blaming others for your crappy day becomes:

what choices did i make to lead me to my experience today?

how can i do it differently tomorrow?

what about how i handled that invited that outcome?

HOW DO I WANT TO FEEL EACH DAY?

When we finally take control and ownership of our experiences, it is so FREEING. To be able to create the reality we desire most each day. Free to choose joy and meaning throughout our day. Free to learn from the harder days and still seeing that as a positive, and carrying it forward with us to create a better tomorrow. We also free our loved ones from feeling like they are on the hook for our emotional experiences; because let's be honest, everyone has enough on their plate just dealing with their own!

I challenge you, to make the choice right now, that enough is enough. That narrative that's been playing on repeat, let it go. The person you know you keep on the hook, release them. Make today the day you are going to take control, and don't look back. Be selective with the words you say to yourself, reflect on the moments you catch yourself back in that routine. Have grace, but be firm with yourself. Because you deserve it, and you can take this step to change your life, right here right now.

you got this. you deserve this.