I used to think that Carpe-dium; (Seize the day) meant
something really big. I had this vision in my head of standing
on a mountain with my hand up in the air.
Accomplish something. Do something. Achieve something.
But I’ve learned that you can seize the day with something
very, small. It happens in the first 10 seconds before your
feet ever hit the ground, before you grab your phone, and
even before the world tells you what you are supposed to do
all day.
You seize the day by ‘deciding’ how you’re going to show up,
how you are going to approach your world. How about with a
smile?
Now, I would love to tell you that I wake up every day
impersonating a Disney princess, surrounded by butterflies
and unicorns, ready to take on the day effortlessly. You and I
both know that’s not true.
I wake up just like you do. Negotiating with the clock as I
head straight to the bathroom, and then head to the kitchen
for a waiting cup of coffee.
But that is exactly why the smile matters; because we all
know life can be anything but easy.
Smiling reminds me of something that is way more powerful.
My job is not to react to the day, but to make intentional
mindset choices throughout the day, the best I can.
For example. Yesterday I woke up like most days, and when I
headed to the kitchen, I found coffee spilled all over the
counter. So that could ruin a day pretty quick And yet all I could do was smile.
I said to myself out loud, “Caught you
being human Krebs, because I suspect you forgot to put the
paper filter in the basket when you made the coffee, thus the
spillage all over the counter.” So, sure enough, I open the
compartment and there is no paper filter.
Now, that could have ruined a day, but I couldn’t help but
exhale and smile. I was smart enough to have a cup of coffee
before I came back to the kitchen, and I smiled the entire time
I was cleaning up the mess. Can you imagine how nuts I
must have looked?
Attitude is a choice. I wasn’t about to let a coffee eruption
ruin the day. I’m human and I made a mistake. I used to think
that it was confident or even powerful people that had this
secret. They could seize the day because they had more
control than the rest of us or something mysterious. But now
I understand something quite different.
We can all control one thing; the decision of who we are
going to be on any given day. Mindset begins with choice.
So, tomorrow morning, I’m going to ask you to do one thing.
Before all the noise of the world starts to filter into your day,
before all the electronic notifications, before all the
responsibilities start knocking on your schedule: take one
breath and smile.