“How was your day?” I asked. He answered, “I’ve had a terrible day because of what ‘they’ said to me! It started out so well, and then that had to happen. I hate when other people do that to me!”

Do you remember when someone used to fill your gas tank? Well, those days are long over! (in most places in the world at least)

Today is the day of filling our own gas tank - both literally and figuratively. If you are expecting someone to fill your gas tank, then anything that happens to you will affect you.

Self-check: A or B

A: “Today I’m going to allow every person’s feelings and actions to affect me!”
B: “Today, I am going to decide how I’m going to feel even when people and things don’t meet my expectations! Today, I am consciously going to fill up my own gas tank!”

You will almost certainly run out of gas if you wait for others to fill you up!

Because each of us has a unique reality, most people don't always act in ways that are consciously intended. We are frequently not aware of what other people are going through or have on their plates. Furthermore, unclear expectations are a surefire way to run out of gas!

Expecting others to fill us up has negative personal and professional effects on our psyches, our relationships, and a company's performance.

Last week's blog was about taking a “strategic breath." Refer to that technique when you become aware that someone else’s actions are not filling you up.

Complaining and blaming others is much easier than filling one's own tank, but it's not a place of joy and productivity.

Being in charge of your own feelings is really a decision to make every day, maybe even every moment. And being that we’re all human and social beings, this is a conscious practice. It’s easy to forget or even decide to sit at the side of the road, hoping someone will come to the rescue.

Today I choose to fill myself up! Who is going to fill up your gas tank today?

“Being happy is something that each of us determines, it is not something we find outside of ourselves, it is within us and our choice.”

- Catherine Pulsifer