Three tips to avoid driving yourself crazy!

1. Don’t control others!

Trying to control others is the easiest way to lose control of your emotions and drive yourself crazy. Think about it. If you spend all your time worrying, manipulating, checking up on things or being controlling of someone else, then you have already lost control of yourself! It’s the same as when you stay up late checking up on your partner, texting, calling and making sure they get home at an hour that you approve of. The only thing that’s accomplished by attempts to control others is that you become crazy yourself as you lay in bed, indulging in painful, worrisome thoughts and getting no sleep. Once you accept “what is” no matter what, you will have peace.

2. Don’t try to guess what others are thinking.

Most people can’t figure out what goes on in their own minds, never mind somebody else’s mind. You can’t possibly know what another person is thinking, and if you spend your time assuming what they’re thinking, it will certainly cause insanity. Imagine being in the messiest room in the world — like in a hoarder’s bedroom. That is what most brains are like: boxes of thoughts, memories, triggers, clutter and chaos. Even if this stuff is organized, it is still messy and hard to figure out. So you certainly don’t need to be in the business of cleaning up somebody else’s cluttered brain. Clean up and organize your own. We are not mind readers. If you want to know what someone is thinking, or why they are thinking it, just ask them. It’s a simple way to not drive yourself crazy.

3. Don’t have expectations of others!

Why are surprises so great? Because we didn’t expect them! We go home, walk in the house and “surprise!” There’s a party that someone threw for us. We did not expect it. Maybe we didn’t even want it, but we are so grateful for it. If we expected the party and it didn’t happen, we would get angry or sad. Expectations will almost always lead to disappointment, so just don’t put them on anyone other than yourself.