1. Focus On The Big Things, Rather Than On The Little Things
Lastly, but most certainly not least of all, the best swap you could possibly implement into your life, is to focus on the big things, rather than getting hung up and worried about the little ones. In the words of one, now-infamous, Disney song... let it go. Trade in all of your worries and anxieties and negative emotions about the little things that get under your skin every day. It doesn't matter if it's the way your co-worker is passive-aggressive towards you, or that one car that cut you up in traffic, or a wrong coffee, or your hair getting wet before a big date. All of these are little things that will not amount to much down the road. If you can look on a situation and think 'will I care about this is ten years' time?' and have the answer be 'no', then it truly, truly does not matter, and it is not worth wasting your precious time and energy on. So your colleague is full of barbs. Rise above it, and keep working towards your goals and what makes you truly happy. So that car cut you up. Let it go and turn up the radio and be the best driver you can be. Being nice and understanding to a barista who got your coffee order wrong can change their day and make them much happier than if you start an angry tirade, and having wet hair on a date can be laughed off and can be something you fondly look back on years down the line. By swapping out your focus on the micro, and instead focusing on the bigger picture, you're not sacrificing all those wonderful, small minutiae and moments that we get every day as human beings. Instead, you're looking at all these negative ones, and accepting that they're not worth getting upset over, they're not worth being a miserable or angry person over. You're trading in sadness for realistic optimism. Is that a deal? If you have any ideas about any fantastic, useful, or beneficial life swaps that have failed - somehow - to land a spot on the list, please let us know in the comments below.
