Clean up your mess!
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Clean up your mess in your life! You may say, ” I don’t have any messes that need any cleaning!” We all have something that needs to be tidied up, to make improvements in our world. It does not take much time to figure out what we need to do. There is one mess that most people in the world need cleaning up. That is the mess we make by not listening enough and talking too much! We tend to speak our minds, without thinking of the consequences of our words.
Older kids do this all the time to their parents. They say hurtful stuff because they think they know better than their parents. Couples say hurtful things in a relationship, and friends can do the same. How do we watch our words? First off, you need to listen more in any conversation, and try not to speak in reaction to what we hear. We need to take a few seconds, and try to speak more carefully, so we do not put ourselves in a predicament. Words can be very powerful, so take time before you put them out there!
Another way to clean up in our lives, is not to procrastinate. Most people put off the tough stuff until later. Tough things need to be addressed, not ignored! I have trained myself to break tough things up into pieces. That means I do not have to conquer everything at once; I just have to conquer one thing at a time. It makes the pile of toughness, much easier to deal with, and more manageable. Let’s give an example. If you are in college, and you know you have a difficult class, and you know the final is going to be a killer; don’t wait until last minute! Start studying everyday, for half an hour a day, a month before the final. If you set up a task like this, you will be less overwhelmed as the final day approaches.
Another approach to keep the messes in life on the down low, is to take time to assess a potentially tricky, upsetting situation. If you just react to it, you will do more harm than good! Take the time out to review all your options, so you do not pay any of the negative consequences. Clean up your mess in life, and you will find more happiness!