It was almost time for me to be wheeled into the surgery room, and the surgeon came to see if I had any questions. He got into the details of what was going to happen and my heart started pounding! I had a tumor in the palm of my right hand, and he was going to make a larger incision than originally planned so he could “explore.” He also said it was going to take four months for my hand functionality to get back to normal.

What?! This was certainly not what the other doctor had told me! She’d said it was going to be relatively minor, and I could be back to work the next day typing away (which was not the reality!).

My nerves skyrocketed. That meant no working out at the gym. That meant I couldn’t do most everything I do during the workday when I’m not teaching a class or on a client call. And since I’m right-handed, I couldn’t write, cook, or easily change my baby’s diaper. I wouldn’t be able to do most anything I was used to doing with my arms!

But it didn’t end there. The surgeon also told me there was a very good chance that the tumor would come back. I went home sulking, scared, and with my fingers feeling like they’d been stuck in a light socket.

I knew I needed to shift my mindset or I was going to be in deep trouble. So, I decided to do the same thing I did when I had elbow surgery and the doctor had told me that I would probably have to have a second surgery to gain back my full range of motion.

It was also the same thing I did when…

• My debt was piled high.
• I wanted to break through “once and for all” to make six figures.
• I lived in constant overdrive to “get ahead.”

I stopped buying into the preprogrammed negative thoughts that I wouldn’t be able to get what I wanted.

I made a decision to close the door on any thought except that I would be well. No more doom and gloom. No more panic attacks.

To hell with what the doctor told me. Never mind what happened in the last six months (or six years).

Don’t let reality bite you… bite it first with what YOU want it to be instead of what someone else told you it could be.

In each moment, you have a choice to decide what your outcome will be today, tomorrow, and the day after that. But once the day is past, it’s your past life. You can bring it forward with you, or not.

It’s a choice.

When you feel you have a choice, you feel instant freedom. Freedom to choose gives you instant power. That’s where you find all of your breakthroughs (some call them miracles).

I’m a believer in happy endings, but it takes practice to trust that you’re in control of the happy endings… you’re just not always in control of the path to get there.

You know what I got from biting reality instead of letting it bite me?

I wrote a book with my hand in a cast. I found ways to work out with a cast.

I didn’t need a second elbow surgery (my doc said he couldn’t believe it!).

My debt was gone in nine months.

I let go of pushing to earn money, and six figures came easily that year.

When I get into a never-ending anxiety loop about something in my business or life… I back off the details of HOW I’ll have my happy ending.

For example, if one of my marketing campaigns isn’t producing and I’d counted on making big bucks from it… I decide that I have more than enough money flowing into my life to be okay. I back away from putting pressure on my campaign to bring the money in. I let go of the exact path to get that happy outcome.