Net Positive.

Lindsay Recknell Compassion, Hope, Mental Health Leave a Comment

I had the privilege of speaking at a local women’s group here in Calgary last night – everyone at Women Talk Calgary South were so welcoming, authentic and supportive, it was a real pleasure to participate. The mandate of this group is to be a safe place to tell your story, to be accepted and not judged and for your message to be received with honour, grace and dignity. Now this is a philosophy I can get behind!

During my talk, I referenced the idea of “net positive” which is one of the motto’s by which my husband and I live our lives. From the comments and feedback from the talk last night, seems like this was the message that resonated with the audience the most!

What do I mean by net positive? Means that whatever I’m doing, where ever I’m going, as long as I’m moving forward more often than I move backwards, I’m good!

We all suffer setbacks.

We all don’t achieve as much as we’d like.

And we don’t always reach our goals in exactly the time frame we set in the beginning.

It’s a crooked path, this life.

But here’s the secret…that’s okay! As long as we’re net positive, we’re on the right side of the equation. Regression is going to happen – the trick is to stop the slide before you have to work extra, extra hard to start the progression forward again.

Don’t beat yourself up for a slip, a bump, a step back. Self-forgiveness is key to this equation too. That’s big for me, being the “control enthusiast” that I am. 🙂 I’m not always so forgiving of myself when I slide into old patterns or break streaks that I’m trying to make into positive habits.

But I’m learning…learning to embrace every part of myself, understanding that mistakes are an unavoidable part of life, and it’s OK to make them. Learning and doing something different next time is what turns my progression around, and I can restart the steps to net positive.

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