Things have been mounting up for me lately. (can you relate?)

I’ve been faced with many of the big things in life… all at once; the death of my beloved father in law, illness in the family, friends in financial distress, other friends with life and love issues and, on top of that, many business projects, including the release of my latest book last month, are all calling for my attention. It’s really been a test of energy, conviction and value choices.

That said, this morning while I was at my usual coffeehouse, my phone was buzzing with an incoming call and simultaneously a new text message- both urgent, both related to the issues above and both unwelcome before my first coffee. No choice, they both had to be dealt with immediately. Got the picture?

Something interesting happened and it packed a great lesson for me… and maybe for you.

I thought to myself, ‘well, there are people out there much worse off then I, so quit the pity party’. And, yes, while that is true, ‘what does that have to do with me?’

Out there is out there. I’m in here. I’m the one who needs to process all of this information, my feelings and (here’s the point) if I stay focused ‘out there’ then it’s just another form of avoidance, not facing it.

So, I thought to myself, that while, indeed, there are people much worse off than I, I must not use that as an avoidance from facing my own stuff. If I focus on the fact that there are people worse off than I out there then I am just ‘hiding out’ and not addressing the 1000 lb elephants in the room.

THE MORE I DO THE WORK ON MYSELF AND TRULY FACE, FOLLOW AND FIX THE CHALLENGES WITH COURAGE AND CONFIDENCE, THEN THE MORE VALUE I AM TO MYSELF AND THOSE ‘OUT THERE’.

Hmmmmmmm.