Self Improvement

If I could choose one thing to change about myself, I think it would be how critical I am. I have a tendency to dissect people's personalities, and their behaviors. This can be good in the sense that it helps me with my career, but it can also make things very difficult in my personal life. 

I tend to overanalyze. I second guess the way my behaviors and comments came across, and I wonder about the actions of others. Unfortunately, this has lend to many sleepless nights, as I can not stop replaying scenes from my life. I get trapped into what my mom would call a "negative thought pattern." One of the consequences of these patterns of negative thinking, is that as a result of assuming that everyone else is dissecting my behaviors the way that I am (I know that being a psychologist should mean that I know better), and this has a tendency to effect the way that I treat my husband as well. :insert nagging wife: "Don't stand like that", "Don't ask that question", "That is inappropriate"... well you get the picture.

The interesting thing is, that in this context Mike and I could not be any more different. Mike is a very laid back person (well, as long as the Lakers and Cowboys are not playing), and so he is really good at just rolling with the punches, so he just doesn't understand what I am getting so worked up about. His usual answer, when I am trying to dissect in the car after a social gathering is "who cares?", and his usual response to my nagging is that I should allow him to live his own life. 

So, I have been working on improving my thought patterns, or at the very least my criticisms of my husband. To be quite honest, it is extremely hard! How do you stop yourself from being upset about something? Well, I am a work in progress, trying to learn how to take myself a lot less seriously. 

As Jo Dee Messina once said:

well, oh, that's the way it is
you gotta roll with the punches
that's the way it goes
you gotta bend when the wind blows
you live you learn
you crash and burn
it's hit or miss
and that's the way it is