Have you checked out my Dear Balanced Living Diary series? In a recent one, I shared how I spilled coffee all over my car. It was a mess. And it wasn’t the first time I had done this!
As I reflected on that, it reminded me of a really great poem, Autobiography in Five Short Chapters, by Portia Nelson.
The gist is…
That someone’s walking down the street, and they fall into a hole, and they continually do that…. over and over again.
What they’re thinking at the time is: wow, this is not my fault. They’re blaming other people and circumstances for falling in the hole.
Eventually, they decide to accept responsibility. They make a different choice, and then shifts start to happen in their life.
It reminded me of how I’ve spilled my coffee before… and then I did the same thing again! It took so much effort and time to clean it up. I had to pull over, and I used so many paper towels. All of this was unnecessary and stressful!
But the following day, I changed my story. I made a shift.
The next day, I did go get a coffee again, but I took a sip of it before I started driving and then left it alone until I got to campus. I didn’t want another messy spill all over my car! (or potentially, me!)
At the end of the poem, the person decides to walk down a different street, completely changing their story.
And that’s what I did. The next day, the secure lids for my travel mug arrived, and now I no longer have to worry about spilling coffee in my car.
I chose to shift the story, make a change, and walk down a different street.
Wondering how you can apply this technique to situations at school or to any situation that might happen in your own life? Reach out! Let’s chat… (if you can’t find a time that works for you, email me here and we’ll figure it out!)
