My message today is this: you can do hard things. You can throw light into the darkest corners of your closet. You can stand up to struggle on oak tree legs.
My approach to self- betterment has always been unconditional love. I have worked to separate myself from society's sandpaper critiques and my own destructive internal monologue. I still appreciate these things, don't get me wrong. What's new is this: I am welcoming the growing pains of challenge more and more. I used to avoid struggle, and believed that those who sought it out had twisted priorities. Now, I join them in doing so. There is something downright exhilarating about it. Maybe because it provides visceral validation that we are being changed by our circumstances.
I'll share an example. I have orthorexia and a touch (or more) of exercise fixation. For years, my response to this was a militaristic workout regime. I did the exact same routine for six years because I trusted it to keep me slender and was terrified of the alternative. Any alternative. In other words, I kicked off my shoes and got real comfortable with an obsessive lifestyle. I wanted to become stronger, grow some muscles, do 30 day yoga challenges... but I held back. I didn't believe that I could handle the hardship of change.
Until a month ago, when I decided to switch everything up. I carefully deconstructed each of the pillars of my routine. As a result, I have progressed more in the last 30 days than in the last 3 years. New results are only possible with new methods. We must change one side of the equation to change the other. The good news is this: human beings crave adventure and novelty and surprise. We thrive through these circumstances. Why not use this to our advantage, to cultivate self- betterment on scales unimaginable?
This is not to say that our lives have to be unbearable in order for us to move forward. We are here to enjoy the ride as much as anything else. However, if you want things to be different, change them. Expect it to be uncomfortable. If you have blind spots and weaknesses (we all do), lean into them. Let's cease to shy away from struggle. We say, "it was an experience I grew from" when we speak of it in past tense. Therefore, struggle becomes experience via cognitive processing and time. Experience becomes wisdom and intuition and wizardry- the things of our wildest dreams.
So I invite you to join me, in my quest to do hard things and fall in love with the process.
Oh man, I am such a creature of habit. I totally know what you mean about being terrified of breaking a routine for fear of everything getting all out of whack. For me, it's work. I am such a workaholic, and to be honest, Steemit is not a great place for a workaholic to be haha. There is a ceaseless amount of things you can do on here. You can create content, and when you are done with that for the day, you still "need" to interact, curate, comment, upvote. I could justify being on here 24 hours a day probably, on top of my other jobs. I hope at some point I can manage what you did with your exercise regime, and step away from work. A lot of it is my parent's mentality of "work first, play later" except a lot of the time there was no play, and that's what I have accepted as an adult. All work. It is grinding...but maybe one day soon I will be out of this vicious cycle. Thanks for the insightful post!
I know what you mean! I can imagine ceaseless work being particularly easy to justify too, because it's "productive" and "necessary". I wish for you balance and change and growth :)
This is a very inspiring article..
Your writing makes it all the more good.
I'll try my best to overcome my weaknesses just like you did yours
Thank you for upvoting my last post. It is a great help for me :)
And I love you post. Hard things but sweet experience resulting to unforgettable moments.
I will start following you so I will have one more reason to enjoy the SteemIt community.
In order to do these hard things, one has to remain focused and do it if he or she has to without worrying about the consequences, well tge example of yoga illustrated the case, keep sharing such posts, thankyou
that's pretty cool well said "you can do hard things. You can throw light into the darkest corners of your closet. You can stand up to struggle on oak tree legs" we can't achieve good things without hardships, hardships are to be taken then only you can build a better future...
cheers to that!
Hi @danigirl how are you? Really nice intro and very positive vibes, i love it ! I would like to connect with other cool steemians, artists and musicians. I’m posting music tutorials and other things related to music (and bitcoins:p). I’m the founder of the free music school communicasound. I'm really pleased to meet you. So i give you my vote, follow you and i will be happy to read your next posts in the futur. If you want, you can do the same and follow me. It’s important to have a family in Steemit :) Greetings from Paris. Peace.
I agree with you
Your post got me in deep thought as well as wowing . Everyone wants it easy and quick and as such chicken out in the midst of little challenges. It's not rocket science to realize that sometimes we need to relish this challenges and take them head on. Nothing improves you and makes you better than challenges. You grow and evolve from. There is always one winner thats basically you whether you succeeded in that task or not, you sure would be already better than you were. Bless up for this post
exactly! I believe a little "you vs. you" mentality is great for motivating yourself towards greater heights and better things!
Yes i personally believe in hard wrok.there is nothing in the world that is impossible
Sometime lucks matter but with hard work and continous struggle we can do every thing amd danigirl you are a smart and courageous girl.May you will get success in every field of life
why thank you! I so appreciate you reaching out. May your endeavors be successful and fulfilling as well!
Thank you and you are pretty