Chanced upon a run track on the Headspace app where Kevin Hart was the celebrity coach. He told a funny story - Kevin Hart style - about encountering a rattlesnake while running one of his favorite trails and freaking out big time! What followed was an awesome little story of self-awareness & insight that I had to share. He realized that from that day on, every time he ran that trail he would slow down around the same spot where he once saw that rattlesnake, even though the danger has long been removed. And it made him enjoy that trail less & less. Once he caught onto how his mind was responding to that past incident, he decided to switch it up. The next time he reached that spot, he consciously sped up and blasted through that stretch! It was actually exhilarating and eventually he took back - mentally - his favorite trail.
Simple story, but so relatable and so many parallels with how we tend respond to problems or problem people. Do we 'slow down' or 'speed up' when we encounter a past setback or someone we dislike? Maybe no definitive answer for all situations, but we can definitely make a conscious choice that can change the outcome.