It’s all about attitude.

Sometimes a small change makes all the difference.

This is true of many things in life. Making a small change can have a huge effect on so many things. A change of habit or ritual or simply attitude. One of my favorite ‘inspirational quotes’ is: “It is your attitude, not your aptitude that gives you altitude.” As in flight, a plane by all accounts shouldn’t be able to fly as it is too heavy. But it’s approach to the task allows it to lift off the ground.

Now this may all sound very deep and philosophical, but hear me out. This approach has applied to us in so many ways over the last two years specifically. And it hopefully encourages you to make small changes to make a larger impact on your life too.

As humans, our biggest hurdle is often starting. We overthink all the possible outcomes, and fear of what might happen often holds us back. We approach tasks and new things with fear and worry. Instead, we should allow ourselves to acknowledge the risks, but focus on the possible rewards.

When we left Calgary, we had never towed a camper. But we did. Clear across the country. We had never slept in the truck seats at a truck stop. But we did it. We had never repaired a furnace, but we did it. Or cut down trees and brush to make a trail. Or heated with a woodstove, or eaten canned food for weeks on end or…the list goes on.

In short, many of our accomplishments were necessitated by circumstances and choices. And while we agonised over some of those choices, we made them together and braved the consequences together.

And the consequences of those actions, some small and some big, have been evident. We’re more confident. We have learned new skills. We have learned new things to avoid or not do again. We have grown, and our overall health has improved because of it.

Now as a practical example of all this that occurred this week, we’ll talk about solar power.

As you probably know, our camper has a small solar system of 3 panels on the roof. And we recently installed a new charge controller, batteries and inverter I to the system. And it’s been a game changer for us.

This week, we had 5 days of rain and sleet, and generally gloomy, cloudy weather. Nothing was charging well. And, as the build out to the camper isn’t complete yet, and we are relying on the furnace for heat, we found ourselves struggling to get enough solar power stored to keep the batteries at a decent enough level to run the furnace. It meant a few pretty cold nights and mornings waiting for the batteries to sufficiently charge to power things up.

This also means that our solar power stations don’t charge well or fully. Which means no Internet or cellular charge too. So we have learned to be frugal and as efficient as possible in these patches to hop online for barely 5 minutes, catch up with anything urgent, and shut down to conserve power. It can be difficult having to stay in touch with folks that way.

On Sunday, the skies cleared and we had full sun all day. It lifted our spirits and certainly charged up everything. Late on Sunday afternoon, we decided we needed to adjust the panels on the camper roof. They are well secured by brackets to the railing and lay flat. With the sun at ever lower angles, we felt the panels were probably not getting the best charge.

So we loosened the brackets and managed to find a way to support the panels and raised them up at more of an angle to face the sun better.  We (to tie it in to the earlier thought) adjusted their attitude.

Monday was also completely clear and sunny and brought the ‘altitude’ or reward of that adjustment. The panels brought in 870wh compared to 430wh on Sunday (and 180wh on Saturday). The batteries were full by noon and remained full. Not only when the sun is out, but even staying at very high charge overnight while running the furnace. This trend has been remarkable to see when comparing the whole week in the solar app.

It was a little effort, and a small adjustment in attitude, and the results are incredible. And well worth the effort it took.

So I encourage you to make a change, even a small one. Do the thing. Make the first trepidatios step. Focus on approach and attitude. You got this!