Attitudes are contagious...is yours worth catching?

It's cold, it's windy, it's dark in the morning...these are factual statements that can turn into problems with winter running.

I hate being cold, it's hard to run in the wind, I'm not a fan of running when I can only see as far as my head lamp...these are statements of attitude about these problems...see the difference?

It's so easy to let our attitudes towards problems turn into excuses to give up. When was the last time you looked at a problem and consciously told yourself, "I'm going to have a positive attitude about this problem!" Has it been awhile? Yeah, me too. In fact, I have been in a bad mood for most of the past month! But, my drought ended this morning when my alarm went off at 5:15. Jen and I planned to meet up for a run at 5:45, and when I woke up I could hear the wind howling, I checked the temp...windchill -2, my bed was SO warm and cozy...problems! But, I told myself, "Don't hit snooze. You get to see Jen, you will get your run out of the way for the day, you get to wear your cute, new Moustache Run hat, you get to start your day energized, you get to have some awesome bragging rights for running in a sub-zero windchill!" I rolled out of bed ready to get at it...and you know what? It was perfect. I was layered just right, the wind wasn't so bad, and my hamstrings felt better than they have in a long time. I didn't make it warmer, I didn't will the sun come out, I didn't stop the wind, but I changed my attitude about those problems, and it worked.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm probably not going to turn into a Positive Polly all the time from now on...heck, I've got a couple of meetings on my work docket tomorrow that are likely to bring that bad mood right back to the surface. But knowing that a small attitude adjustment is capable of making a big difference is a tool I'm glad to have in my arsenal!