Frogs & Disaster Scripts

A while back, I shared my fear of frogs and especially their unpredictable hoppy-ness. And this particular frog was in our basement. Cue panic. A few nights later, my superhero husband caught the little amphibian and released it outside our house. I celebrated that I could now go back into our basement.

Until recently. Superhero husband let me know that late one night while he was working in his office down there, he heard the undeniable call of a frog. He said he looked all over, even going so far as to grab a flashlight and try to look down into one of the hollow walls to see where the little bugger is. Unfortunately, he couldn't catch it. And just a few nights ago, when I went down there to talk with him about something, there was that frog's song. Taunting me. Reminding me that it's still there.

And so, now, when I have to go into the basement to get something, I insist on wearing my slippers. What if I step on a slimy little hopper and have that gross feeling underfoot? I turn on every single light and stare at the carpet. I'm sure it's here somewhere waiting to surprise and scare the hell out of me. Where are you, you little creepy critter? And I've already created numerous stories in my head about how that four legged non-friend will probably find its way into something that I have to bring into the upstairs of the house, and that at some point, I'm going to find it UPSTAIRS. CLOSER TO ME. WHERE I EXPECT IT EVEN LESS!

Obviously I've got some issues with this frog. And truly, what has it done other than try to share our basement and sing to us? I have yet to lay eyes on it. It has yet to surprise me. And still, I've created an entire narrative about all of the ways this frog must be planning to terrorize me.

How often does that happen in our personal or professional lives? Those times when we are about to go into a meeting and have already written the script of all the negative ways discussions will happen. The presentation we are preparing for contemplating every mistake we think we will make. The upcoming date that is sure to be an awkward disaster that lands on Brooke and Jubal's Second Date Update. The school holiday events where having to talk with other parents will lead to certain disaster and immediate reminder of how you are failing as a parent. We've often already written the disaster scripts.

Our human nature may be survival oriented to see the bad to try to avoid it (i.e. woolly mammoth = RUN!). We also know that we've evolved from the cave person days, and so has understanding of our brains. If you are the writer, you also have the ability and power to CHOOSE to write a different story. So the next time you walk out of a situation and your brain is checking to see how all of the disaster scripts have come true, here's a quick way to burn that script. Grab a piece of paper and a pen or use the notes or voice recorder feature on your phone. Set a timer for one minute. And write down/record all of the good things that just happened during that meeting, presentation, date, holiday gathering, or even with a person who you want to see more good in. In one minute, you can come up with a lot of good.

Now think about what things YOU did to help that good occur. You brought your unique attributes which helped make that all happen! If you try this activity a few times in a week, you are going to see some patterns of strengths emerge. Capitalize on those as you learn how to create a different SUCCESS scripts leading up to your next big thing. And if you can't figure it out, click get in touch and let's start talking!