2016 Finale

“When bad things happen, resist the urge to blame others. Instead, find something you can do yourself to fix the problem.”

-Dave Ramsey

As 2016 is coming to a close I have noticed a lot of memes and heard folks say (Insert 4 Letter Word) 2016. I see that many people view 2016 as a bad year, so they just want to forget about it and hope that 2017 has better things in store for them. What those people fail to realize is 2017 will not be any better unless they embrace what 2016 has offered them. It has offered them the opportunity to learn, grow and take the necessary steps to get to the next level in their life.

See the one thing a lot of people want to do is blame external sources for the cause of their bad year, when in reality you need to check yourself before you start placing blame. Look to yourself as the main source of your problem. Write down the things that happened to you that you feel are the reasons why 2016 didn't go right for you. Then I want you to ask yourself these few simple questions:

1)Were these things in my control to change? 

2)Was it someone who was causing me frustration or pain?

3)Was it a situation that was causing me hurt and self doubt? 

Now all those questions have simple answers to them.........

• If it was someone who was causing you frustrations and pain then YOU remove them from your inner circle, even if it is family. Sometimes family can cause the most pain. Now I'm not saying cut them completely out cause they are family, but you don't have to deal with them in your day to day either. 

• If it was a situation that was making you hurt and start to doubt yourself in any aspect of your life......well remove YOUrself from the situation. Sometimes you have to back up and reevaluate your life and start making adjustments to realign yourself back to your goals and happiness. Everyone has a comfort zone, whether it be good or bad, its a place of familiarity. When you take that away from people they freak out more about that then the actually situation itself that is causing the problem. YOU have to be mentally strong and self aware to see that and change it.

• Last, if its something that is completely out of your control, then why are YOU worrying about it?? You will drive yourself crazy constantly thinking about things you can not change.

Just doing these simple things will help change your life drastically but it all starts with YOU. See, it's a defense mechanism for a person to displace blame and not take accountability for their actions. It was YOU who decided to deal with that person and allow them to get close without very close examination. If you did and that person con their way into your life then you need to take that as a life lesson to ensure this doesn't happen again. Everything is a lesson if you are able to get passed your emotions and self pitty.

So to make sure that 2017 becomes a better year than 2016 do a self assessment of the things in your life that didn't go as planned. The situations that came out of left field and caught you off guard. Start thinking about the things YOU can do to make it better. Not what your friend can do, or your momma, or your daddy, NO, WHAT YOU can do to make it better. It starts with YOU and it ends with YOU. How you execute will determine how next year goes.

#straightupmindset