Heather Harter Online

April 2011

In true Tuesday “To-do”odle fashion, I have a topic that has been on my mind and want to share with you as well as challenge everyone a bit… my thoughts are on “control”. Now anyone who knows me well, heck you don’t even have to know me that well, “control freak” just radiates out of my pores!

Now in my defense it used to be ALOT worse before my total number of children was four, but I still like things the way I like them and have a hard time with them being any other way. I am sure that none of you have this same flaw, but nonetheless I felt a confession was a fabulous to begin.

Now keeping in mind that I have this issue, I was hospitalized for two weeks this last month after I experienced complications from outpatient surgery (Never fear, I am on my way to well). During this time I had to let other people do my daily activities… temporarily rear my children, keep my home clean, cook meals and I had to step away from my everyday business and school responsibilities. Which got me thinking about all the things I can not control, but more importantly all the things I can!

You know we can’t control when adversity will hit. It happens in so many different ways. You may become ill or experience a loss. You may have trouble at work or problems at home. Whatever the case may be, adversity is sometimes like a big tornado that you have absolutely no control over. So in the midst of my tornado I was searching for the things I have control over and I found a few….

1.  My thoughts and attitude. I could control how I viewed the situation and what attitude I shared with the individuals around me. They were mostly nurses and X-ray techs, I might add, but I made some great friends while there!

2. My ability to let go. This was a tough one. I could control whether or not I freaked out about if the kids were on schedule, if the floor had been mopped to my standards, etc. I had to acknowledge that sometimes being in control means letting go.

3. In the end the biggest lesson I learned was that the only thing we truly have control over is ourselves and our choices. And that is it! Tornadoes will come and so will the rainbows after the storms, neither of which we can control.

This Tuesday afternoon, I challenge you to examine, what are you trying to control that is a losing battle?  What can you do different that would help ease your mind? Change your attitude about something? Let go where letting go is necessary? Or simply remember that often times things are beyond our control and all we really can do is make choices for ourselves?

From my Adventures,