How To Realign Yourself Without Losing Your Cool

With summer about to unfold, now’s a good time for a seasonal realignment.

You’re out on the trail heading to your destination… a waterfall, cave, rock face, viewpoint or a mountain summit. As most trails go, you will change direction many times, but will always realign with your final goal.

Some routes have what we call bunny trails. These look like fun and sometimes seem to be a shortcut or better way to get to where we want to go. Ultimately, they rob you of energy and time. In some cases they can keep you from reaching your original goal.

Stop Yourself From Going Around In Circles

That’s when we get frustrated with ourselves and tend to blow our cool. “Why did I do that?” or “How could I be so stupid?” Then we end up going around in circles on the path of self-condemnation.

Experienced trekkers learn to avoid the temptation of leaving the known path for a side thrill if they want to make it to their destination. That’s not to say there’s no value in the occasional trailblazing to discover something new. If that’s your purpose, then blaze on. It’s good to explore and learn new ways.

In life we tend to set goals based on what we believe our ultimate purpose is. Things come along to distract us. Sometimes we face a choice, other times we do not. Life has a way of giving some unexpected ‘curve balls’ that we have to deal with one way or another. We’ve all had a few.

Realign With Your Purpose

The key in staying or getting back on course is to realign yourself to your main purpose.

An old sage once asked us, “What’s the main thing about being Christian?” 

After grasping for an answer from many flashing into our minds, we realized we were missing it. Finally, after giving us enough time to feel uncomfortable in our uncertainty, he says,

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

“The main thing about being a Christian is to love God and love one another.”

Oh Yeah… I guess that is the main thing! All the other good stuff comes from that. And all the religious stuff that hurts others doesn’t.

Even if you don’t have any particular spiritual belief, there is enough general awareness of what Jesus is said to have taught to entertain the same question.

What is the main thing about being you?

Knowing the main thing, it becomes possible to realign yourself when you get skewed off course.

So What’s Your Main Thing?

What is your main purpose in life? Get it crystal clear in your mind. Like the mountain summit you’re reaching for, the main thing can sometimes be hidden from your view. But knowing where you want to end up will help keep you on the best path even when you can’t see the final destination.

And when (not if) you decide intentionally (or not) to go down a rabbit trail, it will be easy for you to realign yourself back to where you need to be in life without beating yourself up.

How Well Are You Aligned In These Areas:

Now, get out in the mountains and ask yourself the question, what is my main thing? Then keep it the main thing by realigning where you need to and keep your cool this hot summer season.