Have you ever had a moment when you knew your thoughts were spiraling but you felt completely hopeless to stop them?

About 2 and half years ago, we sold our home. We originally hoped to build, but that was the same time that building material prices sky-rocketed, so we were also looking for a home to buy.

Basically…we had no idea what our plans were.

There’s something you should probably know about me…

I don’t like to not have a plan. 

So this alone – this not knowing where our next home was going to be – was hard for me.

Oh, and did I mention that I also quit my job this same month to take a new job working from home as a copywriter, editor, and ghostwriter?

Yeah, that month was a lot for a “doesn’t like change” kind of person.

Thankfully, we found someone willing to rent us a home without us having to specify just how long we planned to rent. (This is so rare and was such a blessing!)

Our closing date on our home approached, and so we packed.

Then, a winter storm hit.

Record-breaking temps.

So cold that pipes were bursting in many older homes in our small community.

The night we moved all of our things into our rental home was also the night that the pipes burst in that home. 

We hadn’t set up rental insurance yet. All of our stuff was in that house. And we had nowhere to go.

I remember looking around at all the boxes and feeling the emotional whirlwind that was taking me by storm. 

I felt it – those emotions that were on the verge of turning into a full on adult meltdown – but I didn’t know how to stop them.

I felt so powerless.

Have you been there?

The First Step to Retrain Our Mind & Thoughts:

Have you ever felt like a victim to your own thoughts? Like there’s nothing you can do to stop them from spiraling out of control? 

I mentioned last week I’ve been reading Jennie Allen’s book, “Get Out of Your Head,” and she shares that the first step to retraining your mind is one simple thought.

That thought?

“I have a choice.”

You and I, we might feel powerless against our emotions and our thoughts, but we’re not.

The first step in retraining the mind is when you’re feeling those emotions, to tell yourself that you have a choice.

You are NOT a victim to your thoughts.

You are NOT a victim to your emotions. 

You have a choice. 

I’m by no means an expert at this (after all, I’m only one week into this little experiment I’m doing) but I can definitely sense a shift in my thinking since I started doing this.

When hard things come my way and I feel my mind and emotions starting down that road, I stop and tell myself that I have a choice and it really does help.

It’s not a fix-all but it’s a pretty powerful first step.

Join me this week by putting it into practice!