#75Hard Day 28: Never Quit On A Bad Day & The Power Of The Pause

▶️ When working on big goals, there will be off days. It may stem from discouragement, doubt, difficulties, etc., but we all have those days where we feel like giving in or even throwing in the towel and quitting altogether.
▶️ A great strategy is to give yourself permission to quit, but with the caveat that you aren’t allowed to quit on a bad day. You have to wait until things are looking up and then you can decide.
▶️ In all likelihood, you won’t decide to because when you get to that point, your emotions will have long since turned around.
▶️ A similar tool is the power of the pause. When in an emotionally charged situation, pause before you react to someone and/or make a decision. This can apply to more than just habits, and is also an excellent tool for relationships, work stress, etc.
▶️ Emotions last 90 seconds to 2 minutes as then dissipate. Feeling may still persist, but they aren’t the raw, visceral emotions that cause us to say/do things we can’t take back. So pause and wait for a level head to proceed.
▶️ As I shared in the video, today was one such hard day. Practicing the power of the pause allowed me to realize the emotional state I was in was a result of a previous upsetting situation, and not really even so much related to the present one. ▶️ The same feelings I felt when my cat was sick and I couldn’t do anything about it returned when our foster cat was scared and upset and I couldn’t do anything about it. I pulled me into that pit of sadness surrounding the time of knowing I was going to have to put my fur baby to sleep.
▶️ My first response was to think that getting the foster cat was the problem. I just wanted to give up (quit on a bad day) and take him back, thinking I’d made a mistake and wasn’t ready.
▶️ When I paused, I realized it was a triggering situation, not the cat. It may or may not work out, but that was the point of fostering first. I can always quit at the end of two weeks when the foster is over, but I won’t quit today. I won’t quit on the bad day. The power of the pause gave me the ability to see clearly.
▶️ How do you think you could implement this in your own life?