When you're going through progress, you're bound to face a million different feelings. Some of them are welcome, like the feeling of excitement you get when you've achieved a milestone or the little joy in learning you were able to do something for yourself.
Your journey towards a better you is a beautiful thing in itself. However, we can all agree that it isn't always smooth sailing. We feel nervous or scared. Sometimes we face roadblocks and in an attempt to look for a way to get over them, we get lost.
The feeling of being scared of new things and the roadblocks we face aren't always in our control. One of the best things about our effort to be better is how we try to find ways on how to rise back up despite all this— in our own ways and at our own time. The next time you ask yourself what's stopping you from achieving progress, try to cross out what you can't control from your list. Instead, ponder upon these things and check whether they've been stopping you from achieving real progress in life:
Skipping the process of finding what works for you and going for everything.
When we find ourselves in the same situation for a long period of time, we usually want to try every solution there ever is for it in an instant. Instead of the results we want to get, we're left with a bigger problem and an even stickier situation. Now, we don't know how and why we got there.
Minimize the possibility of being an even more frustrating situation where you have to pinpoint where it might have gone wrong. Instead, pour that time and energy into truly finding what works for you. You can't focus on what's on the other side of the door when there are ten more open.
Progress is a ride full of trials-and-errors. The more open we are to accept it, the more time we can pour into knowing what we want, and what we should do to achieve it.
Anticipating bad comments when you haven't even started.
Our worst critics can be ourselves, and when we let negative thoughts in before we even put our plans into action, we become our own enemy. We usually let these get the best of us. Before we know it, we find ourselves in the same place, unable to move.
Our control over how harsh the world could be isn't in our grasp (unfortunately), but the simple act of letting one less negative thought from ourselves go could make a domino effect. Try to remove what others have to say about you, your work, or whatever it is you put out into the world. Focus on why you're doing what you do and what you want to achieve from it instead.
Putting off what's important to you for later.
Think of a time when you made plans for yourself but had to put them for later. Because of life's circumstances or wanting to put others first, it gets buried and filed under 'for someday' instead.
While this is sometimes unavoidable, give yourself an allowance to let yourself put what's important to you as a priority. By doing so, you don't end up feeling spent and burned out or feeling like you missed out on something that could have been a fulfilling moment.
As the saying goes, you cannot pour from an empty cup. Even if you put being of service to others within your goals, give yourself the space to put yourself at the center. Strive for that balance.
Band-aid solutions for your goals.
Quick fixes are great for instances that call for it. When it comes to the overall flow of your life and your goals, we suggest you skip the quick fix for something more long-lasting instead.
Think of concealer. It's an easy, quick solution for covering up spots we don't want stealing the spotlight, but we can't rely on it forever if our ultimate goal was to have better skin. The effort and resources put into buying a new concealer every few months could have been for something that gives you results you could see and keep instead.
On your next reflection session, try to think of your real-life 'concealer'. Does it align with what you want to achieve in the long-run? If not, where can you focus that energy on instead?
Take note: it's perfectly normal if you find yourself doing these things once in a while. Pauses happen. No journey's complete without it. In fact, we might not have been making any steps at all if we didn't experience these at least once in our lives. Feel all of it if you do face it again. Acknowledge it. Take mental notes.
Onwards you go.
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