Read Time: 3 min
Drama, drama, drama.
So you have some drama in your life?
Sometimes you run into it. Sometimes you create it. Sometimes you attract it. Either way, it can be no fun to experience.
The good news is there are many options to manage how you deal with drama.
For starters, you could punch an alien.
Then again that has some negative side effects, and there is the whole innocent extraterrestrial aspect. Who would want to hurt E.T.?
Even better advice would be to read and apply the concepts in this blog post. I’ll share a few strategies you can put into practice right away to help manage the drama in your life.
Check out the strategies below.
1. Fine Tune Your Thoughts
Each time its apparent drama is bringing you down, stop and recognize it is not the drama that is messing with your vibes. It’s your thoughts about the drama. What?????
You have a powerful brain with lots of thoughts that are free to do what they want. Think of it this way. Your thoughts can be like unsupervised toddlers running around with knives in their hands, or your thoughts can be like peaceful adults sharing empathy and love.
Your thoughts run the show. Circumstances are neutral. They are neither good nor bad. It’s all opinion and people will have different viewpoints. It’s your thoughts about the circumstance that create your feelings and determines how you handle them.
Are you managing the drama in your life with thoughtful peace and love or with knife wielding toddlers in charge?
2. Other People’s Opinions… Are Other People’s Opinions
Do you like having your own opinion about things? Would you give up that ability?
Is there any reason to be concerned with the opinions of others? After all, isn’t it their opinion and not yours?
- Maybe someone doesn’t like your blog post. Wazzuppp!
- So and so said you are the worst parent ever. Good times.
- Someone calls you a hippie freak because you don’t feed your kids gluten or artificial ingredients. Thank you! High Five!
Aren’t these just the opinions of others?
It doesn’t matter what someone says about you.
What matters is how you choose to think about it in each moment afterward.
3. Embrace Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a lifestyle. It’s awareness and being present in the moment. It means having the ability to take a split second pause before you react to a circumstance.
An example I like to use is when someone in a car cuts you off on the road. In my younger days, that would have upset me and I would have retaliated without additional thought.
A practice of mindfulness encourages you to:
- First, embrace your emotion briefly in that situation.
- Then, take a split second pause to reevaluate your thoughts about the situation without the need for anger, judgment, or retaliation.
- Next, you shift your thoughts to what might be going on with the person in the other car.
- Perhaps they just found out their child was rushed to a hospital.
- Right or wrong they may not have been thinking about you when they cut you off on the road.
- Finally, you move on and focus on peace and love. That circumstance has passed. Retaliation often doesn’t end well and will further escalate the situation.
Using mindfulness in this situation doesn’t mean you’re a pushover. It means you’re choosing a peaceful option without further escalating an unfortunate issue.
Perhaps life happened “for” you instead of “to” you. Maybe the cut off slowed you down enough to miss a potential accident up ahead on your route.
Bring it on drama. No worries.
I would love to hear how these strategies work out for you. Were you able to side steps some drama without further escalation? Does one of the strategies resonate with you more than the others? Please let me know in the comments.
Cheers,
Great stuff! I love your style of incorporating humor.
Thank you, Trent! I like to keep them short and have a little fun at the same time. Cheers
My Father George often would remind me if a person (store attendant, fellow worker or who ever) treated you disrespectful or impolitely, he or she just might be having a very bad day or something to that effect . He would remind me to embrace your emotion briefly in that situation as you pointed out in the blog.
Very good reading, thanks for inviting me to your web site.
Nice job Jace! I can relate to being called a health freak about 15 yrs ago when I was trying to help my children through food (youngest at the time had Epilepsy and a couple had ADD, now resolved). Many thought I was so mean not to just medicate. My husband needs to read the part about the traffic, lol!
Hey Hey Hey! Thank you, JAlton! So honored. Thank you for checking out my blog and for sharing the story about Grandpa George. I love to hear those stories. Love you
Thank you, Cherie! I like being called a health freak. That is funny about your husband. I think it is really cool you were able to heal your kids through food. You are such a great mom. Cheers
My sister & I make it a practice to wish drivers “Godspeed” when they cut us off or roar past us, weaving in and out of lanes. The way we figure it, they’re already risking an accident, so they need all the good wishes they can get….
I don’t really spend much time worrying about what others think of me and my views — not everyone is going to like me or agree with what I say, so why waste the time and energy?
I do try to keep the knives locked away when my inner toddler tries to take control!! Although I have had an electronically-induced tantrum or two in my time…. :/
Thank you, Diane! I’m getting better at not worrying about what others think. I had a hard time with that in my youth which is one of the reasons I’m a life coach today. It feels good to give back and help others. Cheers
The image of unsupervised toddlers will forever stay in my mind whenever I catch my thoughts running the show! Huge thank you for that.
3 great strategies, I love how simple and practical you make it Jace!
Solid advice on the big D! It’s great to watch on stage but better to tone down in your life. Your proactive approach is great mindset shift.
Thanks, Brad! High Five!
Thank you, Catarina. You are welcome. It was fun coming up with a way to describe unsupervised thoughts. Cheers
So true! My coach always says, “the mind is a mind,” which I love. It’s always going to do it’s thing. It is so important to let our minds and the minds of others not take over in a negative way, overworking and worrying. These tips are great to balance real world shiz, that will always show up. Thanks for the reminders.
So true! Thank you, Brandi. You are welcome. High five for having a coach. I love seeing coaches having coaches themselves. Cheers