Choosing Enjoyment

I'm one of the three main organizers of ng-conf. I've been doing this event for 7 years now, and it keeps getting more and more intense. The week of ng-conf is over 100 hours of work for me, which is crazy. But it's also one of the best weeks of the year for me: learning, friends, fun, good food. Conferences are one of the most enjoyable activities I do. Sure, it's busy and stressful, but it's the culmination of over a year's worth of work and a very fulfilling week.

Yet a couple of years ago, in the middle of the conference, I found myself grumpy, short-tempered, and not enjoying myself at all. This went on for several hours. My friends could tell something was off, frequently asking how I was doing, and always my response was that I was stressed and overworked…

Finally, I had a few minutes to myself and I just stopped, and asked myself, "why aren't you enjoying this?" and honestly, I had no real reason. Sure things were busy and there were some minor problems, but overall, things were fine. I was simply choosing to be miserable.

And so I decided to choose happiness. I told myself, I'm going to enjoy this time. I'm going to enjoy this work. It's not perfect, but it's good work to be doing. At the same time, I went and spent a few minutes with a close friend who was a safe person to be open and vulnerable with, and talked to them about what I was going through and what my thoughts were.

And from that time forward, that decision allowed me to begin enjoying the day and the rest of the conference.

Life can get hard. REALLY hard. But sometimes, without thinking, we can thoughtlessly start choosing to be miserable. In those cases, just being mindful, finding connection, practicing vulnerability can snap us out of where we are and let us choose how we want to feel.

Are you in that place? Are you choosing misery? Maybe some mindfulness and connection are what you need right now. We can't control the things that happen around us but we can choose how we react and think when they happen.

Happy Coding!

Signup for my newsletter here.

Visit Us: thinkster.io | Facebook: @gothinkster | Twitter: @gothinkster