Climatize Your Attitude Before the Storm Hits

Climatize:  to acclimate to a new environment.

The photo you see above reminds me of my younger days growing up in Arizona.  Dust storms suddenly appeared out of nowhere without any warning.  It also resembles the walls of smoke that ravaged our California neighborhood when a wildfire burned out of control, destroying many homes, including our next-door neighbor's.

There are other types of storms that wreak havoc on our personal lives, such as recessions, unemployment or job transfers.  The biggest lesson I learned for coping with unexpected change in my life has to do with attitude.  It's like a setting on your thermostat that you control, even when everything else in your life appears out of control.  Once you climatize your attitude, you can weather the storm.  Here are some steps you can take to adjust the settings on your attitude thermostat:

1. Look for the silver lining in the clouds.  Your brain has the potential to see opportunity in every adversity.  For example, when you get the layoff notice, instead of thinking about how miserable your life is, think about all the new doors you can open.  Concentrate on the possibilities.  Visualize new parts of the country you can relocate to where your skills can be better utilized.
2. Recognize your attitude plays a role in your success or failure.  The temperature in a room won't change unless the thermostat is on.  Your problems won't go away unless you adjust the control setting on your attitude.  You bring the heat or the cold.  It's your choice.
3. Understand some people will be miserable because they refuse to climatize.  I prefer to be around people who are willing to make changes in their lives rather than complain about how hot or cold the weather is.  Negative people really don't want to change anything in their lives because they won't have anything to complain about if things actually improve.  Concentrate on climatizing your own world and stay away from the complainers.  Keep your attitude thermostat locked up and don't let them have the keys.

The weather outside is 14º degrees this morning.  We had our first snow storm last night.  Mother Nature did her best to warn me about her plans for the Winter.  My attitude is fully climatized.  My blood is getting thicker.  There is nothing like sitting in front of a warm fireplace to work on my writing projects during this time of year.  How about you?  Are you ready to climatize your attitude before the storm hits?  Let me know what you will do to get climatized.