Have you ever gone into a scene expecting it to be miserable? You better believe it was the worst. If I expected the case to be difficult, I was rarely disappointed.Or maybe you’ve gone to your in-law’s for the Holidays thinking “this is going to be miserable” and more than likely, it was.

Thinking with a positive attitude is incredibly powerful, but you know what is even more powerful? Thinking with a negative attitude. Unfortunately, it is our human nature to see the glass half empty, especially when we are giving up something we absolutely love.

If you had asked me 3 years ago, “Kat, do you like drinking?”, I would’ve said “No. I LOVE drinking.” So, when I started thinking about giving it up, it seemed impossible. Until I changed my attitude about it.

In my last email, I talked about the amazing power of our minds. And this is SO very true. This can start with talking positively to ourselves. When we speak positively, we keep our subconscious minds ‘happy.’

As you prepare to journey through The Alcohol Experiment, please enter with a positive attitude, an open mind, and a ‘glass half full’ mentality. Don’t give alcohol any more control or power in your life.

When I went through this experiment, other people talked about keeping a ‘gratitude journal’ or doing a daily random act of kindness towards someone else. This actually made me feel even more negative - I worked 40 hours (usually more) every week helping random people on the worst days of their lives! What more could the universe want from me?! Here was another example of cognitive dissonance, right under my nose! What I realized was that I’d started associating what I’d loved to do - HELPING PEOPLE - with stress, struggle, death, and despair. It kept me away from my family. It revealed the worst in people. My management was terrible and no one cared.

We’ll talk more about gratitude later but I can tell you right now, gratitude is your kryptonite against this sort of responder burnout.

The following quote is true in so many areas of life....don’t you think?

“The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes.” - Charles Swindoll

HOMEWORK - take a photo of yourself, for yourself. You’ll be impressed with what you find by January 31.