Awhile back my husband’s nephew asked if I could give him a ride back to his home. I answered yes but with a little bit of trepidation since I was not yet familiar with making my way around. Once we reached our destination I had pen and paper ready on hand to map my way back. My nephew smiled at my pen and paper to his amusement. He reassured me that it was so simple for me to get back that I had no need of sketching a map. “Keep it small,” he said. “It really is simple.”
He was right by the way. After following his instructions I did get back and that phrase has stuck with me ever since.
How many times I perceive unfavorable results from a certain challenge only to have it go the other way? How many times I make it seem to be much larger than what it really is? How many times have I felt overwhelmed by a particular task instead of just breaking it down into smaller manageable tasks?
Keep it small. That little phrase helps to remind me when I start to feel overwhelm to do just that. If I get tempted to mentally predict a negative outcome of a challenge I remind myself to keep it small. The majority of the times I go about predicting mentally negative outcomes turns out to never be anyway. What a relief to realize that I am not an oracle! If I were, what a lousy one I would be.
So remember to keep your challenges simple and small. Trust yourself that whatever the situation, you will come out of it. Help yourself to keep your thoughts within the proper perspective and give yourself a mental pat of approval when accomplishing it. You deserve it!
