Pressure or Pleasure - what do you choose?

A few days ago, I participated in a discussion with other project management professionals and heads of PMOs to discuss Competences needed for project managers to be ambidextrous in the business ecosystem. An interesting topic in itself, but this post is about something one of the participants said, before we even started:

"Everytime I come here, I get nervous, I feel the pressure. "

The pressure did not come from the group of leaders from different industries participating in the discussion, nor from the topic. It came from his memories from the place where we had the meeting; at Chalmers University of Technology, the university where most of us earned our degrees.

He said it jokingly, but there was a hint of seriousness about the feelings he had had when going to exams.

The comment stayed with me, since my feelings when I parked my Suzuki Gladius at the Campus were completely different. Of course I studied hard when I was a student here. Of course I participated in difficult exams, not always sure I would pass or get the results I wanted. But I also partied. A lot. And I was part of an organization that took care of the sound at concerts and arranged film evenings. I don't remember the pressure, I remember the pleasure.

You can have similar experiences as others - yet perceive them completely different. You decide what to put the focus on. You decide what memories to keep.

And then there is the future. You get to decide that too. Not what happens - but how you will react to whatever happens.

Pressure or Pleasure.

I know what I will focus on.

Do you ?