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Audio Journal: Focus on What You Can Control · The Daily Writer

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Every once in a while on this podcast, I do an episode that is totally unrelated to writing.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: And today's episode is one of those times where I want to talk for a moment about something that has absolutely nothing to do with writing, but it does have to do with our life and our perspective and our mindset.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: So you've probably noticed there's an election coming up here in the next few weeks.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is not just for my US-based friends, because this election affects the whole world in many ways.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: And even if it doesn't affect your country where you live, it does affect the world economy and so many other kinds of things.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: So this is really for all of us and not just for my American friends.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, you've probably noticed there's an election coming up, and I bet you've also noticed that people on different sides of the issues and candidates and of the political spectrum, people on all sides of things, have gotten very emotional and very upset, particularly the last couple months as we head into this final home stretch of this election.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Here's one thing that I know I cannot control the outcome of an election.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: I can't control whenever whenever there is a vaccine that will come out for the coronavirus.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot control really anything except my own actions.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm at my college office right now as I'm recording this.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: When I go home and I leave work here in just a bit, and I go home and I see my wife and son, those are two people that I cannot control.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: As much as I love them, as much as I want the best for them, I cannot control what they do, say, think, or feel.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: None of us has any control over anything really except our own actions and our own mindset and our own attitude.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: And even though you may feel very strongly about one candidate or the other, or you may feel strongly about a host of a million other issues that are happening in the world today, you can't control anything except yourself.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe this is a good time for us to focus on things that we can control.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: How much can we write every day?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: What time can we go to bed so we can get a good night's sleep?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: What kinds of things can we put into our bodies so that we feel energized and not sluggish and run down all the time?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: What are the words that we can speak to people that will lift them up or encourage them or help them to be more creative?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: What are the things that we can do to ensure the people around us feel cared for and loved and protected and affirmed?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Those are kinds of those are the kinds of things that we can control.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, even though we may care about all those other issues in the world, ultimately we have no control over them.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, it doesn't really do a lot of good to invest very much emotional energy into those things because we don't have any control over them.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I encourage you, and as I usually say, I've remind myself as well, I encourage us to focus on the work that we have to do, to focus on what we've been called to do as writers and creatives.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because if we invest energy into all those other things, that energy just dissipates into the ether.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: It dissipates into the nether world where it does nobody any good.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So let's focus on what we can control and not spend all of our energy on things that we have no control over.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, that's my controversial podcast episode for today.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I will see you in the next episode.