Hello there! How are you? It’s been hot here in Hong Kong. I’ve stayed indoors for most part of the day when the sun is high. 34 degrees with humidity 70 - 75 % humidity means I make myself productive in other ways. I move my body no matter what I’m doing. And of course I stay hydrated. Enough about the weather.
I came across this question. And I thought to myself, “Wow, what if more people asked this question to themselves and others? How might they start viewing themselves?”
The untrained human mind is easily prone to negative thinking. And it’s not like the trained mind doesn’t struggle with negative thinking. It does. But what it’s (continuous) training helps it to reframe and focus on positive things.
No, that doesn’t mean you turn a blind eye to what’s happening. Not at all. It’s about being aware and making a conscious choice from that awareness. Choosing where you consciously want to divert your attention is
what you have control over, and
empowering.
Going down the negative spiral, it’s easy to get trapped in the “what’s wrong with me?”, “why me?” mindset. Solution can’t be found which this mindset. But often, people may not want solutions more than they want validation or attention. In which case the validation and attention are band-aids that simply cover the wound without take a closer look at what caused the wound itself or allow it to heal fully.
The second thing that happens with this mindset is looking for blame. Either blame oneself or others. Again, no solutions can be found with such a mindset. It further perpetuates the cycle of pain.
The saddest part is that no one can help someone who holds such a mindset. That’s why they are miserable and misery loves company. The familiarity with pain helps them bond and they mistakenly think that is love.
It’s not. I see this tapestry running across social media’s various platforms. I’m so glad to learn that Substack is different in that sense. It’s productive, collaborative, nurturing, and positive.
It’s where people come together to find solutions and celebrate creative spirits. Thank you to whoever asked “What’s strong with you?”
What’s strong with me is being able to turn negative life experiences into lessons for myself that positively impact my life.
Last year this time, I worked 55 hours at a bakery with a promise from the manager that I’d get to learn to bake sourdough bread. Not only did that not happen, but the manager was so cruel, rude, condescending and mean toward me that I had stomachaches at work and body aches from scrubbing huge baking trays. The body aches I could manage. The bad treatment, I couldn’t. So I quit working for that manager.
People don’t quit jobs. They quit bad managers.
About three months ago, I decided to play around with making sourdough starters with spelt flour. I kept baking. I’m still trying to perfect the recipe, especially baking bread inside a pot in the oven.
Every time I hold a slice of sourdough, I hold victory in my hands. Victory over who I can be, no matter what I’ve been through. I care about progress over perfection. Here are some of my spelt sourdough loaves and what’s strong with me.
And if you’re interested in dipping your toes into sourdough baking, I’d recommend you subscribe to A Sourdough Story.
My reader, what’s strong with you?
Thank you for reading!
Catch you next week!