Rule #38 "Get Out of the Present"

This is counterintuitive to what so many will tell you. Most people, yours truly included will tell you to be in the present. After all, the present is the only thing that’s actually real. The past is a memory, the future is only imaginary the only thing real is you reading this blog right here right now.

However, what do you do when the present sucks? What if you’re mired in anxiety? What if you are angry? Get out! Change the present. Again, it’s the only thing that’s real so it’s also the only thing you can change. Unless like Gulliver you wake up with your hair sewn to the ground, you can get up and move. Change your environment, put on a song, start singing a song.

I have this horrible habit of spiraling in my mind about the things I’m trying to accomplish but haven’t. I want you plus a million others to read this blog. The fact I don’t have a million plus you reading it gives me anxiety. I never feel like I’m doing enough. When this happens I have to shake myself out of the present and create a new present.

For me, the best way is to get up and move. It is amazing how just changing rooms will change your perspective and the pattern of your thoughts. Have you ever walked into a room and forgotten why you are there? The same holds true here. Often if you just get up and move, you will forget what it was you were leaving in the other room to start with. Also, music is a great way to change the present. Put on a song that reminds you of a great place and time.

The point is this, you own your present. It’s all yours. If you don’t like it you can exchange it anytime.

You rule!

Jason