I love my newish (3 year old building) apartment. It has an excellent use of square footage so that I have a master bedroom and master bath that is larger and nicer than many people’s homes. The kitchen is huge with a giant island, also larger than kitchens found in many homes. I love the wood floors throughout the entire apartment. No tile or carpet anywhere. There’s a multi-level parking garage to protect my car from the heat and occasional hail or crazy weather we get. It is a 7 minute drive to my office. And for all that, the rent is less than almost any other modern-feel, mid-rise Dallas apartment of equivalent size and amenities. Anywhere else similar I’d have to downsize to a one bedroom apartment.

One of the downsides is who I have living above me. A young family with an uber-active toddler that runs and jumps and drags furniture constantly. When they first moved in, it drove me crazy. But then I eventually decided to make the best of it and not let it bother me and was able to hear the noise, but not be bothered by it. Yay! Beyond that, another major downside is that the building by design is noisy. 12 foot ceilings, polished cement floors and no soft surfaces on my first floor level to help absorb sound. There is a door to the outside of the building right next to my unit, with very heavy doors that slam shut immediately after you walk through (presumably a safety measure to keep out the people that should not be here). Also, my unit overlooks a street so there is traffic noise.

Last time my lease was up I felt like I had only recently moved in and was still trying to get unpacked and wasn’t ready to bite the bullet and move without enjoying my beautiful apartment first. (Never in my entire life have I gotten unpacked as fast as you have. Lol) So I renewed last time for a 10 month lease and resolved to make the bet of it.
In my day job recently, I was involved in making some training videos, many of which I did from home at first. But then I learned that although I can control my mind and change my thoughts and choose not to hear something, the same cannot be said for the microphone I’m speaking into. So then I ended up having to make the rest of the videos after hours at the office, when everyone was gone.

In my someday-soon coaching business I think I may someday record some videos or webinars or something that will be on video. So in recently thinking ahead to my lease coming up for renewal again I was thinking I would need to move to a much quieter place to accommodate my needs for my day-job or my coaching business recording.

But the thing is….my path of least resistance right now still does not involve a move. Just thinking about packing up everything, moving and then having to unpack it again is exhausting to me. So this morning I was wondering how I could use this current place to my advantage or at least craft a story about it that makes it work for my future coaching business (which I think would be to coach other fibromyalgia sufferers on how they can do thought work to change their experience with fibro and blow their own minds on what is possible for them-despite what they previously thought). That’s still definitely a work in progress for me.

C-lease coming up for renewal
T-ugh–I can’t wait to move to someplace else that is conducive to my need for quiet.
F-eager to be somewhere else, stressed
A-look at places online and buffer at the mere thought of having to do anything about it.
R-continue to live somewhere noisy

C-lease coming up for renewal
T-I dread the thought of having to start packing everything up, going through the expense of moving and then unpacking again, especially when I have a history of it taking me months to get unpacked.
F-stressed and resistant to change.
A-start asking myself if I really want to move and how I can make not moving work
R-feel a little less stressed about it and hopeful I can find a way to make it work

C-lease coming up for renewal
T-knowing that moving is stress-inducing for anyone (especially those with fibromyalgia who are already under a great deal of stress), I suppose I could always use this as an example to my future clients of the value of the path of least resistance and how doing what causes the least amount of stress can be the right thing to do and how shifting my thoughts about things and looking for the silver lining is probably always the right thing to do. Someday, I’ll point to the noise the microphone picks up on to eloquently make my point.
F-more relaxed, less resistant, happy I can focus on something other than packing, moving and unpacking for the next several months.
A-renew my lease and stay put. Research better audio visual equipment that I can buy with the money saved from not paying for a move–again.
R-I will have better audio-visual equipment for the future or it won’t matter because I can use the “what is” to my advantage.

Brooke, I seriously thought that I was going to be asking you for help with my thinking and finding ways to tell the story differently. But once I started doing the model as I typed it all came together, and now I’m asking myself why I don’t do them more often when every time I’ve done one that I seriously thought I needed your help on, it turns out I figured it out satisfactorily- or maybe even awesomely.

However, if you have any additional thoughts….bring ’em on! Thanks!!