Many of us are making or have already created a New Year’s Resolution. We want #change and are making statements like: “I’ll be more positive!”, “Get in shape!”, “Hustle for that success!”. We all want to make 2020 great. We want to achieve our goals and have placed them out before us like a finish line on the path. By the end of 2020, we all be in shape, have success and be super positive about achieving it all.
Yet the road forward isn’t always very clear, even with our best intentions or greatest goals laid out like a map. We sometimes, if not most of the time, don’t know what’s coming around the corner. Get lost on the path. Stumble, fall and even quit moving, remaining stuck. This can be scary because we usually like to be in control and have that certainty. We like to achieve what we set out and will not be stopped by our flaky old habits from the year prior. So we will attempt to manage our uncertainty and fear by creating a map for ourselves.
Maps can be anything that we believe will make our journey to success easier: To-do lists New Year’s Resolutions
An app to log and manage your time better Schedules & Calendars
Etc, etc…
These helpful task masters give us temporary relief, but the anxiety can be and probably is still there for most of us. We still worry about slipping up and ultimately failing. Maps can also come with an unexpected consequence such as expectations or perfection. Such as, “I must do this” or “I should be this”. We become frustrated with ourselves if we don’t achieve our To-Do list or hit our Resolution when we wanted to. Maps can’t predict either how we will feel or react when something on our path happens. They are simple task masters, not emotional managers.
Yet we forget the most important and amazing thing- we are on an ever-changing road of life. We have the power to make the journey on this road harder or easier for ourselves by the power of our thoughts, discipline and compassion. We can acknowledge our fears, and still keep moving forward. We can hit a massive roadblock and find our way around it. We don’t need to depend on a New Year to change old habits, or any excuse to get healthier or happier. We can do it with simple intention, consistency and a genuine desire to better ourselves from the heart—rather than the Google alert you set when your off task yet again.
Giving away our power to temporary relief makes our ability in ourselves smaller. Everyone can accomplish incredible things! Keep moving forward. Ditch the map. Instead grab a friend to join you for a little while to help you along the way. Stop along your journey to marvel at something beautiful and enjoy the moment. Take a deep breath. And remind yourself that fear is part of the journey, but not all of it. It’s okay to worry about failing. It’s okay to fail too. It is the inevitable part of the journey. And to remind yourself that, feel free to add post signs along the road to tell you to not give up, and that you’re doing the best you can today.
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