Using Your Words Wisely

I caught a cold recently and lost my voice on and off for a few days.  My throat was sore, so I concluded that it was best to not speak. Or speak as little as possible.  It just wasn’t worth it. 

Losing my voice gave me such an interesting opportunity: I was forced to really think before speaking.

One morning, I was presented with some disappointing news.  My first impulse was to say something not so nice about the person who had let me down.  I wanted to vent, give a piece of my mind, and defend myself.  But I didn’t do any of that.  I just said nothing.  It wasn’t worth it.

By saying nothing, I gave myself a bit of a break.  In that break, I did a mental tally of how bad the situation really was and this is what I discovered:

It wasn’t the end-of-the-world kind of news; more of just a let-down kind of news.

It was just a single opportunity gone, in a really big world of opportunity.

Everything happens for a reason.

I don’t have to take everything so personally.

If I had mouthed-off, I would have gone down the emotional road of blame, worthlessness, and anger.  And that would have accomplished exactly nothing, except drain my already dwindling energy. But instead, I got to go down the emotional road of faith, trust, and compassion and feel my energy renewed.

And I concluded that whether I had a voice or not, it just wasn’t worth mouthing-off anyway.

Where is your mouthing-off draining your precious energy? What would you learn if you caught your tongue?

Here’s to conquering Stress,
The Stress Experts