At my daughter's school orientation today, the principal asked the kids to close their eyes and envision their best selves. He pointed out that for the next bunch of years, it would be easy to be this "best self" when things were going well. Their challenge would be to hold on to it when they faced harder days--sports game losses, difficult classes, new social situations. He encouraged them to remember on those days the best self that they pictured today.
In that moment, I wished that I was closing my eyes and doing this exercise too. For, along with the days when I have been the most generous, most optimistic, most team-playing person I know, whether at work or in my job searches, there have been countless days when ambition or competitiveness or paranoia or despair have gotten the best of me, and have compromised both how I worked and how I dealt with my family. If I had thought to visualize my "best self" on some of these days, perhaps outcomes may have been different. At the very least, I and the the other people around me probably would have been happier.
As I move forward in what is an increasingly non-autopilot life, I think I'll be incorporating some time for that "best self" exercise. It may not get me in shape as well as the gym, but I think it has a pretty good chance of keeping my head a little straighter.
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