The path to reaching our big goals is rarely linear. Instead, it will zig and zag and require us to re-calibrate our course and stay open to traveling in uncharted territory.
Happy Thursday Friend,
I hope all is going well for you in this moment. With February upon is, sometimes those well-formed plans made in January can begin to feel like a distant memory.
In this Week’s Featured Article (it's also posted below): How to Stick with Your Goals Through Setbacks and Rejection, I share 5 tried-and-true strategies to turn to when you’re ready to quit, but quitting isn’t an option you’re willing to entertain. If you’d rather view/listen to this week’s feature, you can access that by going to this week's Happiness Video (also posted below).
As a contributing writer, editor-at-large and consumer of Thrive Global, I’m always excited when they roll out new tools and strategies for living our best life. Thrive Global is a change platform dedicated to improving people's mental resilience, health, and productivity using sustainable, science-based solutions. If you are in the United States or Canada, Thrive Global has a new app to support you in creating new healthy habits (hopefully it will be available in more areas in the world soon). Check it out here by going to the QR code or go to this link.
PS: I’m still collecting words/phrases you are using as intentions for this next year, month, week, day or moment. 😜 Hit reply and share your intention/word (basically how you most want to feel). I'm working on creating an image with all of our intentions and will share it here with you around Valentine’s day. Be sure to hit reply with your word/phrase. I always love hearing from you.
PPS: If you're curious about the Fall in Love With Your Life Seasonal Planner, an undated feminine style planner that factors in your weekly intention and self-care, come check it out. While you’re at it, come join me and our small, but mighty group of women from around the world in the Love Your Life Weekly Planning Group. We’ve created a supportive, lovely space around our own self-care and planning rituals.🧡 I’d be honoured to have you join! If 2022 is the year of prioritizing well-being, this would be a great space to start.
However the week unfolds Friend, may you see how amazing you are as you are, and love the life you are in.
Do you start right out of the gate full of passion, confident you’ll reach your goal?
Our big goals and dreams can feel so vivid and real, especially as we embark on the path to bring them to life.
At the beginning of our journey, our resolve to reach our goals has yet to be deflated by setbacks, roadblocks and doubt.
Being an avid goal-setter myself, I relate well to the excitement of putting big dreams in motion. I empathize with how it feels to have your important goals tested repeatedly due to setbacks and rejection.
As a writer, I’ve found the biggest stumbling block is to learn how to weather and grow through self-doubt and rejection.
The golden ticket as a writer, or anyone on the path to reaching big goals, is to separate your ego and worth from your work.
Yet even with all the reminders and lessons in place, there will be those times when we are pushed to our limit. We may reach a point, or several points along our journey when we want to give up.
If our big goal is still relevant and the thought of throwing in the towel brings more anguish than relief – a reset is often what is needed.
These are the tried-and-true strategies I turn to when I’m ready to quit, but quitting isn’t an option I’m willing to entertain.
Return to Your Why
As we get swept up in the doing of reaching our goals, there is the tendency to feel buried in the minutiae of it all. When we feel stretched to our limit, it’s easy to forget why we ever started toward our big goal in the first place. This is when we need to take a step back (along with several deep breaths), and return to the beginning. Reignite your passion by bringing to mind the main reason you put your dream in motion. Why do you want to bring your dream to life? Who will be impacted by reaching your dream? How will you change? What will it feel like to reach your big goal? Stay in this reflective mode as long as it takes to reconnect to the original feeling you had when you created your goal.
Get Re-Centered
Overwhelm and exhaustion are both dream killers. Bringing our dreams to life can feel like running a daily marathon. It’s critical that we pace ourselves and take care of our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. Being centered will help us move through our obstacles with more ease. When we start to fall apart, or feel fragmented, it’s our cue to re-center. Our methods for getting grounded and centered in our truth look different for everyone. Some ideas to start include: Getting adequate sleep on a consistent basis. Taking regular breaks to get outside for fresh air and fresh perspective. Practicing healthy boundaries so you don’t over-commit your time and energy resources. Connecting to your physical senses through exercise, yoga, meditation, prayer or whatever that looks like to you.
Focus on Your Journey
It’s disheartening to experience setbacks and rejection on the path to reaching our big goals. The bigger the goals, the bigger the obstacles. It’s not always easy to dust ourselves off and get back up, particularly when we’ve been trying for what feels like forever and that lucky break seems to come for everyone else but us. If you find yourself feeling this way, or comparing your journey to others, you aren’t alone. But do whatever you can to stop. When we are measuring our journey against someone else’s, it’s our red flag to take a step back and regroup. My favorite Mark Twain quote I draw on over and over again is, “Comparison is the death of joy.” This will always be true. Stay in your own lane and focus on your journey…Come on over to my website to read the restof the article or share it with someone who could use a little encouragement.
*Know someone who would benefit from this week’s note? Please feel free to forward it along to them.
