WWSWD

My mantra. The ever ringing phrase in the back of my mind. The question I ask myself constantly. The idea that completely changed my perspective on everything.

As I've mentioned, I observe people. Before I try to talk to them, I try to learn a little about them. This goes for one of my coworkers. I was trying to figure out what I could even talk to them about and as I observed, I couldn't not see he was extremely health oriented. He is a phy-ed teacher after all.

Somehow, at some point... the phrase came into my head: What would Saint W do?

It was perfect! Since we had the joke that he was a saint for working with a certain group of kids and it was a running joke name that I gave him and the kids in the group knew it, too. We were just being silly when we gave him the name.

But it stuck and all of a sudden, I found myself asking myself WWSWD (you know... like WWJD).

So when I got up in the morning and I didn't want to get out of bed to walk, I would ask myself, "WWSWD?" I'd respond, "He'd have run 5 miles already!" Then I'd get out of bed.

"Self, you are really tired. You're still missing many steps towards your goal this morning. Just stop."
"WWSWD?"
"Keeping pushing to be successful!"

"Family wants McDonalds."
"WWSWD?"
"We should get Subway or I'll just eat something else."

"What can I make for our weekly meals? Everything seems too heavy and potatoey,"
"WWSWD?"
"What different colors of vegetables can I add into all this? Do I have a healthy protein?"

To be honest. . . I have no idea if these are things the person would do. Well, I mean... the eating healthy part was a given. Essentially it became a go-to for "What would a healthy person do?" And it changed my perspective on that part of my life. I'm more active and goal driven. My eating and even my family eating is getting better and healthier. It's been super motivating and I laugh whenever I think it now. But even when I get discouraged, I feel motivated to keep pushing myself to get the healthy tasks done.

Then it morphed into coworker interactions. WWSWD in social situations to keep things zen and cool? He said he was incredibly even-keeled and laid back after all. Doesn't talk to other people much. And then it started to click and I felt better and more confident. Mostly with dealing with the stuff that was so smothering to me. Let it go. Why do I care so much about what others say? After a week, I was feeling better and refreshed and just, good. Granted, with all my other baggage, it's still a work in progress. But hey... why not at least try?

So, what started with just wanting to get to know someone better became a new perspective on my life and that's not a bad thing. Luckily it's taken on a life of it's own and it's not even about the person anymore. Not gonna lie, the mindset has been pretty awesome.