In the first grade I kept forgetting my “supper books” (1 sentence per page books to help us learn to read) at school. One day before school my mom told me if I forgot my book I would have to walk back to school and get it.
I worried about that all day and so at the end of the day I was sure to grab it. I was so proud I hadn’t forgotten it. When I got home my mom asked if I had it and I proudly raised my zip-lock bag to show her I did. But it wasn’t there. The bag had ripped at the bottom and my book had fallen out!
Mom sent me back to school to get another. It was the hardest day of my life. I had worked so hard to remember it and then I still didn’t succeed.
Obviously I’ve experienced much harder events throughout my life but that day, that small event, I had reached my capacity.
I look back on it now, as an adult, and wish I could tell myself that: It’s not really that far, it’s not that hard, it’s OK to be discouraged, this event is going to teach you so much.
When we are in current situation that seems impossible we can do the same thing with our future self.
We imagine how we’ll be at some point in the future and then give our current self advice on how we got to this point. Each time we go to act we ask ourselves, would our future self make this same decision?
As we begin to think and act like our “future self” we become our future self and work our way out of the current unwanted situation.
