Emotional Mindset

I woke up this morning to a rush of firework posts, kick-starting the new year with a bang, messages of health and happiness and a series of phone calls to morally motivate me to see the glass half full. The number of people talking about resolutions, new beginnings, and a new version of themselves seems to be going to extremes. 

I can’t seem to escape journals, head plans, or any similarity related to downloading your thoughts on a piece of paper – ironically this is what we’re doing here – but you get the idea. As interesting and attractive as it all may sound, I think the only thing that matters and that EVERYONE and their mother seem to forget is: emotional mindset. 

I know it might read like an oxymoron, how can a mindset have emotions? But it does. The way we think, we operate, and we plan are all emanating from one source of endless energy, be it positive or negative: emotions. It’s an indescribable plethora of remnants of thoughts, after-thoughts, pre-thoughts, and overthinking. Feeling guilty, happy, excited, worried, are all energies and waves of emotions that our body and heart send to our mind. 

We plan badly when we’re sad, we take rash decisions when we’re too emotional, we end up losing when we only focus on one side of the story. Emotions are your main source of information about ourselves. That gut feeling you carry is an actual warning sign. Emotions aren’t scary when you acknowledge them and learn how to read them. But who knows how to read all their emotions? Emotional intelligence is not just a sexy managerial characteristic. It’s a human trait that starts internally first and foremost. You, knowing how to deal with yourself is an emotional acumen far more attractive than any of those degrees pinned in your office. 

A lot of people skate their way through life, undetected, unseen, “they seem happy,” because they know how to filter their emotions and put on a brave face. Half-doing life is as tragic as death. When you suppress emotions, play by the should and should-nots of this world, keep people at arm’s length, avoid the depth of connections and play by the rules of an established rigid system instilled to advocate manipulation, guilt, and shame… that’s when you truly lose.

Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of intelligence. Knowing that you’re so abundantly feeling every aspect of your life and trying to align your thoughts with your heart is a sign that you’re waking up; that you do want the full version of life, not half-a-picture of an ok tomorrow where you can continue on auto-pilot. 

The French have “La joie de vivre” – yes it is attractive to say it, but it’s even more attractive to live by it. Finding the joy to live does not rest on the social norms of responsibility, dos and don’ts, and other pre-established paradigms. Finding joy rests on seeing the magic in the little things, finding inspiration in sharing love with someone, moving with your emotions, accepting your vulnerability and connecting with your dreams.

Dreams are not silent spectators in your life. They are the manifestation that your mind is silently whispering to you; it’s where emotions and thoughts meet. They’re yours to follow or to ignore… but once you start living them, Boy is that life worth fighting for. 

There is so much loss and heartbreak around us. Half-assing anything through life seems the Greek tragedy that we all want to avoid. We want to be our hero, we want to be the main character in our own life that decides, moves, and lives with an unmatched passion, fervor and thirst for inspiration. 

We can’t unlearn great love, we can’t undo beauty, we can’t unsee dreams… my hope for 2025 is that if I happen to stumble upon them again, that I’ll have the courage to seize them and uphold them, not run-away fearing failure, or pushing a narrative that doesn’t allow me to embrace them.

Life happens, whether I want it or not. I hope I’m able to always want to be part of it, fully, boldly, abundantly, and I know that to do that, I need to follow my dreams, walk my talk, and cherish my heart. My hope is giving myself the strength to pursue it, no matter the hardships I face, and no matter how many pieces I need to put back together.

I have one life. I owe it to myself to live it, completely.

That is my resolution, that is my emotional mindset as the new year kicks-off today… not a new version. The same person, but a more determined, free-er me. 

This isn't about me. Take a moment, it's about you too.