ABC, Not quite as Easy as 123....

SO! I was reading a recent message from the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints- By President Thomas S. Monson. You can read it HERE! Any ways I really like it. He is basically giving us guidance on how to make this New Year an "abundant" one. The three ABC's are basically as follows (I picked my favorite part from each section to write)

A-ATTITUDE-We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude- For me, This is SUCH a big one. I am a natural pessimist. I often find myself seeing the negative side of things. It's really hard for me to look a situation square in the face and I calmly say. "I'm going to handle you with a smile on my face" I just am not a faker. I used to be a really good faker. But these days I've opened up my emotions and all that horrible stuff so its really easy for me to just say "oh, that's too difficult" or "Welp, that sucks" and "I HATE THIS" But from here on out I am going to try and see the POSITIVE side of things. And I think that attitude isn't just about how you perceive things, but its also how you REACT to things. I'm usually a very reserved person. I think that how you react to someone or something is a HUGE reflection on you. I often find myself reacting to people I'm close to, VERY differently than how I react to people I hardly know. FOR EXAMPLE: My Mother. I LOVE my mom to death in fact I practically worship the ground she walks on. HOWEVER she has the ability to get my blood boiling faster than anyone on this earth. HOWEVER I do see how unfair that is to her. She can simply remind me of something and I will immediately get annoyed. So I need to work on my reactions towards the people that I love the most. Just because I am comfortable with them DOESN'T mean that I should be able to get angry with them and treat them badly.

B- BELIEVE (in your self)-Don’t limit yourself and don’t let others convince you that you are limited in what you can do. Believe in yourself and then live so as to reach your possibilities.- Ah, another thing that I struggle with. As I said above I am a pessimist, and that often consists of me telling myself that I can't do something because it is unrealistic, or too late. Welp as far as I'm concerned I've absolutely  WASTED the last 5 years of my life. Sure there were some awesome crowning moments, but I haven't really done anything that I am overly proud of. And why is that? It's because I tell myself I can't. So I'm stuck in a job that I don't like just because it pays well and I'm able to pay my bills. WELP no more. I'm officially "Believing" in myself and this year I'm going to try and do ALL the things I've wanted to do and never got the chance to. I'm not going to let other people affect me in my decisions although of course My decisions affect others, but My decisions can only affect people in a NEGATIVE way IF they are NEGATIVE decisions. :)

C- COURAGE-Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, “I’ll try again tomorrow.”-This meant A LOT to me. Courageous is NOT something that I would call myself. In fact I would probably make that "C" a Coward. HOWEVER , just like the Cowardly Lion, The courage that I do have will come when I least expect it. To have the courage to stand up for myself and my beliefs has been a recent thing for me. But every time I do I feel an overwhelming sense of satisfaction in myself. Courage isn't fighting a dragon, and I don't think that courage is necessarily always being the one to confront people. I think True courage is having the ability to face the day and face your own personal trials with FAITH that the Lord has your best interest's at heart.

Although they are SIMPLE, they aren't necessarily the easiest things. Those 3 things are something that comes with years of practice and hard work, and considering I've spent the past 23 years doing almost the exact opposite, Its DEFINITELY going to take me some time to master these ABC's and maybe I never will. BUT from now On I'm Trying. :)