Do what you can. Do it well. Be nice to people. Leave the rest.

 

I’m all about mantras.

Ohms aren’t really my thing outside of a yoga class where at least three other people need to be chanting louder than me, but keeping a specific phrase in mind helps my incredibly forgetful self remember the important things. How forgetful? Literally I’ve looked at my gas light, said aloud I need to get gas as soon as I get back in the car, run in a store for maybe 5 minutes, get back in my car and keep on driving…until I run out of gas on the side of some road. This has happened more than once.

But right now I have a full tank of gas and those important things are battling work stress and career questions. Stress and questions that aren’t exactly helped by my often negative, perfectionist inner dialogue. Repeating this to myself every day last week helped me feel more relaxed, more forgiving of myself and more energetic to spread that positivity to other people. In other words, I was a lot more fun to be around (I hope).

And if that doesn’t work, I dare you to look up smile on Pinterest and not smile back.