What if this isn’t as hard as I think?

What if this isn’t as hard as I think? 

What does your brain do when you apply this question to a difficult situation or circumstance in your life right now? Do you feel an initial resistance? Your brain saying, “Oh yes, it is this hard and cannot be any easier!”

What happens if you ask yourself that question again?

And again? 

Do you eventually feel a shift from the initial “no!” to a “what if it isn’t as hard as I think?”

“What if…?” is a powerful question. It’s not saying anything has to be different than it is, but it is challenging the narrative that you are telling yourself and opening up the possibility that it could be something other than what it is. 

The weight of a circumstance is dependent on how hard or not we think it is, and how much energy we feed those thoughts. 

A thing can be hard, and you can increase the weight of it by feeding those thoughts with energy. 

A thing can be hard, and you can lighten the weight of it by feeding those thoughts with your energy.

Challenge your thoughts at every turn, and don’t feed the difficulty of situation with thoughts confirming that fact. Just let it be what it is. Or reframe it into something new; a whole new outlook or perspective. 

Examples of feeding a hard circumstances with energy are thoughts like the following:

This is so hard, I don’t know how I’m going to do it. 

I can’t handle this. 

I’m not strong enough to live with this. 

Why is this MY life? Why do I have to live with this?

Can you feel the weight growing as you feed those thoughts with your energy?

None of these thoughts are wrong! They’re just thoughts. Feeling like a thing is hard isn’t wrong either, it’s just a feeling. We all have thoughts and feelings. It’s part of being human. 

You may or may not be able to control what thoughts pop into your head, but you CAN control what thoughts you feed with your time. You can control where your energy goes. You get to decide. You get to decide how you want to feel about something--without ever changing the thing. 

You can question those thoughts at every turn. 

This is so hard, I don’t know how I’m going to do it….hmm, what can I do? (make a list)

I can’t handle this and I’m not strong enough to live with this...but what if I’m stronger than I think? What if I can handle more than I realize?

Why is this MY life? Why do I have to live with this?...This IS my life, so how can I approach it with joy and grace? What if this isn’t as bad as I think? What if this is just another thing? Just a piece of my life? What if, I can be fully present and aware in whatever these hard circumstances are, and still have the life I want? Can both of these things be true at the same time? 

You get to decide what your narrative is, what you tell yourself. What thoughts you choose to believe as truth. No one else decides that but you.