How to Not Feel Sorry for Yourself

That pug looks pretty upsetti, doesn’t he?
He probably feels sorry for himself that he can’t have those delicious treats on the table there.
Oftentimes we feel sorry for ourselves about things that we shouldn’t.
It’s self-defeating and ridiculous.
When we were children we cried until we got something that we wanted, and then the crocodile tears disappeared faster than a candy bar into our mouths.
But when our parents didn’t give in to those melodramatic wails, we sat in the corner with our arms crossed, pouting and feeling sorry for ourselves.
The Adult World
In the adult world, it’s much less obvious to notice when someone’s feeling sorry for themselves.
It shows up in dramatic sighs, shrugging shoulders, half smiles and a “who knows?” gesture.
Why aren’t you writing that book you’ve always wanted to write?
Sigh.
Shrug.
“Getting an agent is so hard. Nobody would want to read a book written by me anyways, so I just decided not to write it.”
Yeaaaaaaaah…
Sure.
That’s a shitty excuse that my twelve-year-old self would roll her eyes at.
The Victim Mindset
When you feel sorry for yourself, you’ve fallen victim to the dreaded victim mindset.
The victim mindset is a magical place where you’re always right, but you feel shitty about it.
The upside about always being a victim is that you’re always right. The downsides are much worse, and last longer.
You’ll always hate the progress and success of other people.
You’ll feel sorry for yourself until the day you die, or the day you get fed up and need to change.
What You Need is a Mindset Shift
While the victim mindset is nice because you’re always right, once you get fed up with your lack of progress and lack of success you need to do something.
Shifting your mindset is easy to say, but often hard to execute.
You have to truly embrace the benefits of experiencing the pain of growth.
We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment. — Jim Rohn
Once you decide which pain you’re going to experience, you’re pretty much set. It’s as simple as making that choice.
We’re all that pug staring at the treats.
The question is, are we going to be upsetti about it?
Or are we going to choose to stop feeling sorry for ourselves?
