Hi, everyone, Welcome to you. This week's My Joe Monday. I'm Carlie Taylor, and I want to talk to you today about an approach to life that has had quite an impact on my everyday mindset, and it's called constructive living. The term was coined by David Reynolds, who has taken the philosophies of Maritio therapy and I CAN and created an approach and a program called constructive living. And he's written a book under the same title, So if you are interested in finding out more about it than you
can buy the book. So have you ever woken up feeling overwhelmed or stuck or unsure of what to do? And this has happened to me, And it can be really hard when it happens, because when we feel stuck, we tend to turn our attention inward to problem solving, because that's what our minds do best. Our minds love to solve problems. But in this particular situation, we can end up overthinking it. We go into analytic mode, and that often can lead to well, not very much, but
a whole lot of pain. Sometimes we simply also don't have a clear plan for the day or we're not in the so called perfect mood. But here's the thing. There's always something you can do right now. It could be as small and essential as tackling a load of laundry, or doing some housework, or taking a quick trip to the shops for groceries. And these are the small bettersential actions that keep life moving forward even when your emotions are swelling around like a storm, and sometimes you might
feel paralyzed by what you're experiencing. But this approach is all about accepting how you feel, which we know comes and goes and changes just like the weather, and then choosing to act anyway. So even if you're not in the mood, you can still decide to get organized, maybe you know, cleaning out the fridge or doing your taxes
or organizing a drawer. And in fact, Ethan Cross, who's one of the world's leading experts on emotional regulation and wrote a brilliant book called Chatter, so look that one up. He reminds us that these simple everyday tasks are not trivial. They're powerful actions, and they help break the cycle of inaction, so they can ground you in the present and show you that even when you feel overwhelmed. You have this
power to keep moving forward, keep making progress. And I feel like I'm living proof of this because I have felt strong emotions that could easily have dragged me down that emotional vortex, and there was one time that this happened. So what I did was I sorted out my training gear draw, which was a complete mess, just like I felt in my head. But it was this really big tick.
You know, I did something constructive. It actually felt good, and during that time my attention was redirected towards organizing the draw and away from the emotional storm in my head. And if you look at this from a distraction point of view, it's yes, we are distracting ourselves by doing this,
but it's constructive distraction. So rather than going on your phone or opening up a bottle of wine or doing all those things that we do to distract ourselves from our emotions or our overthinking, we're actually doing something constructive that's helping us move forward. And I know there are moments of uncertainty in life that can feel really, really heavy.
But here's the beauty of this mindset is while you might not have all the big answers, you do have a clear path forward in the form of small necessary tasks that keep life ticking away. And that's so important because you think about it, you know, something like washing the dishes, or folding the laundry, or running a quick errand, or getting rid of the dust and grime. These actions might seem kind of insignificant on their own, but they're
every day necessities. And often when we're so caught up in our emotions or our thinking, we can withdraw and we tend to not be motivated to do these things. But Paul often says motivation follows action. And I'm not sure if he actually started that quote, but I know he's been saying it for years, and it really captures the essence of what I'm talking about, because every time
you take action, you're not just completing a chore. You're reinforcing the fact that you are capable of managing your day no matter what feelings that you are wrestling with. It's about acknowledging your emotions without letting them paralyze you. What you're saying by doing this is yes, I feel this way, but I'm still going to do what needs
to be done. It's that simple act of moving and taking action So this week, whether it's as simple as sorting out a drawer or cleaning out the fridge, or just taking a moment to do anything that needs to be done, take that step and embrace the fact that every little action is a win. And the other thing about this is it makes you realize that everything you do, these small things have a purpose behind them. So you're not waiting for the perfect moment or the perfect mood.
You're creating that momentum right now. So let's make today and this week about those small victories that add up to a bigger, brighter picture and start with one tiny task and let that action spark the motivation to tackle even more. So I hope you all have a great week and I will catch you next week. See ya.