1. Being Resilient and Maintaining Optimism

In the
Middle of a difficulty
Lies opportunity
- Albert Einstein

In times like these it is good to remember
That there have always been
Times like these
- Paul Harvey

My number one approach for maintaining optimism and resilience is watching my thoughts-feelings and doing my best to maintain a positive and hopeful perspective. While the above quotes help me with this, in my experience it takes continuous effort and commitment.

Changing the way we think:
I remember the moment when I made a significant shift in perspective.  It was a sunny day this past fall 08 and I was sitting on my couch looking out into the forest.

I was feeling tentative, worried, and anxious about the future. I had been spending the past year putting major effort into creating a new company (2nd Half Matters: Bringing Your Best to Life www.2ndhalfmatters.com) and just as I was approaching its launch, the financial downturn was upon us. What a time to start a new business! It then hit me that perhaps this was the perfect time for my new venture.

Might there be a way to help people realize the positive and redeeming aspects of our current state of affairs?

With this insight, the seeds for the “Upside to the Downturn” idea took form. From that moment forward, my business continues to be more successful each day.

Changing the things we can:
Another insight I had at this time was that there was little within my personal control with respect to impacting the macro-issues of this current economic mess. I would therefore have to rely on hope, trusting that people way smarter and wiser than me would get our banking and financial systems, as well as the economy, back on track.

I realized however that there are a number of lifestyle areas of my life that I do have control over and impact my health, wellbeing and outlook. They include making a personal commitment to eating a healthy diet, sleeping well, getting lots of fresh air, and maintaining a regular exercise program. In addition, I have to remember to not ‘beat myself up’ when and if I get off track Instead, I need to continue to do my best to get “back on the horse” and continue to take good care of myself.

Maintaining inner calm:
I also find it important to control the flow and content of the news media that I expose myself to. For example, I no longer read a paper or watch the news on TV. Instead, I go on-line and only read stories that I find to be helpful, hopeful or inspiring. I also download podcasts of interest and listen to them while walking or exercising.

One further new thing I’ve implemented is to not open my financial statements with the daily mail, as I did in the past. These can wait for a time when I’m in the right frame of mind for reviewing such matters.

Q: What are you doing to stay resilient and maintain optimism in these times?