None of us can control our emotions. We can only control our reactions to our emotions. – Neil Pasricha, The Happiness Equation 

The start of the new year is often a time for creating resolutions and pursuing opportunities for self-improvement. I have long belonged to a local gym; it is part of my morning routine. Every year I marvel the first couple of weeks of the new year. The gym is crowded with people fulfilling their resolutions to “get up and exercise every morning.” By mid-January the crowd has started to thin-out and my Valentine’s Day, it is back to the regulars.  

We often resolve to control our emotions. We want to control our stress, our anger, our frustration . . . we strive to change who we are. You can’t change you. You can’t change the triggers and drivers of your inner-core. What you can change is how you respond to the triggers.

Don’t start 2017 by trying to change you. Start 2017 by changing how you respond. Be purposeful, be prepared, for how you will respond to your emotions. Don’t change the emotion, manage the reaction.