Change your mind, change your life

There's a quote running around in the interwebs that is attributed to CS Lewis, and seems like something he would have written.  It says you can't change the past but you can start where you are and change the future.  I'm holding on to that because that's what I want to do - heal the past so that it stops coloring my future.  I've got a ways to go, I'm sure, but I think recognizing my thought processes and stopping my own toxicity before it builds to unmanageable levels will be good for me.

What is my toxicity you ask?  Generally my knee jerk reactions to situations that are beyond my control and yet affect my mood and outlook.  Reacting with anger because something has caused me to remember my hurt.  You see, there are certain people who are tremendously talented at poking my unhealed wounds.  I don't think they do it on purpose, because really they don't know what wound they are poking.  However, I tend to want to react in ways that I always have - with anger, with booze, with sarcasm - and those ways are not actually helpful to anyone.  Apparently what I need to train myself to do is to understand why I want to react (mind over behavior) and then change my reaction (changed behavior).  Sigh... this is gonna be a long road with lots of bumps.  However, I'm choosing to see this as Mandi's fight against... Mandi.  My favorite person to compete with is myself, so this should be fun.  I just need to be sure to speak to myself kindly instead of unkindly.  A little more "you know better than to do that, hon" and less "What the crap is wrong with you?!?"  Hehehe... my voices can get out of hand sometimes.

Anyways, I got my hair cut on Tuesday and had lunch at a great place with amazing sandwiches.  I can't wait to go back and have their philly cheesesteak sandwich!!  I planned on going to the war memorial to look around afterwards.  I was unable to go into the building (closed due to coronavirus) but I was able to walk around the outside with all the big fun stuffs.

 I was all alone at the place.  It was called From Brooklyn and it was yummy... also, new haircut.

 Spicy Italian sammich with fries and a Sprite.

 Planes!

 Boat!

 Tanks!

 Big boom-makers!

 Air boat!!

 This one makes me think of James Bond.

 DUCK!

 Statues!

 This one was cool, and so I took a pic of the explanation.

You can't tell, but I'm wearing my mask here.  ;)

It was a decent day, even though most of Seoul was mostly shut down and people were staying in.  I then went home and relaxed.  It's been a good week - I was even able to talk to my best friend for 2 hours on Wednesday :)