The Turn Around

In the midst of an arduous task we may struggle and question "Why am I doing this!!?"... Our emotional state affects our thinking and hence our perception of reality. I was recently reminded of this truth. Here is a story about it.

The last two days of scuba diving certification:
Saturday: Fatigue from the week and a 6am wake up.... followed by intense discomfort to walk half my body weight in scuba gear a distance to the beach.....to enter the ocean in high interval surf which attempted to log roll me... followed by the rapid onset seasickness once I made it out past the breakers..... Gagging I thought "There is no way I can make it through a weekend of this torture!" and "Damn, we have put so much time into this class and I am going to quit." My emotionally charged thinking was telling me that I was in a lose-lose situation. Saturday finally ended but not after some tears, negative thinking, and a little puking.
I hope you are still reading because THIS IS WHERE IT GETS GOOD:
Sunday:
Sleep..... followed by the simple thought "This can be a better day." which then led to what I call The Turn Around.....

We arrive at La Jolla cove and meet up the scuba class. I look around at the glory of the early morning. My focus is on the present-- I learn more skills and actually enjoy them. I volunteer to "lead" the first dive. We don our scuba gear. We kick out to the buoy. We receive a warm welcoming by 4 harbor seals. We drop down to the bottom and I turn my compass heading to 30 degrees and start moving. The group follows and we successfully stay together. I observe beautiful fish, the kelp forest, starfish, and before long--- the sweet reward: a small black and white spotted harbor seal is looking at me, nudging his head into my shoulder. He wants to play. He bites another student's fin. Then he returns to me and I wave. He is so close that he puts his hand in mine. We high five twice.
Then before I know it, dive 4 has ended. Dive 5 has started and ended. I feel relieved, calm, satisfied. Perhaps even thrilled.

I learned a lot more than scuba this weekend. I was reminded to pay closer attention to my mental state and my the way in which emotion or discomfort can distort my perceptions. One of the best things you can do when in the middle of struggle is simply, be patient.

May every struggle lead to a Turn Around.
Peace and blessings, my friends.