Preparation and Luck

How do we truly get to where we are? Is there a trajectory in which we unknowingly follow as it guides us with gentle whispers or sometimes full fledged shoves? Sometimes you think you know where you want to go, where you want to be, who you want to be… but then when you become it you don’t like it. Sometimes you do know what you want and you pursue it endlessly without any success. But sometimes, when you least expect it, it happens… you get to where you wanted to be all along and you love it. When that happens, you feel like you have a purpose.

How did you get there? With a little preparation, hard work, and by not giving up you were able to get lucky at the right time. Maybe someone believed in you and gave you a chance, maybe you earned your right to sit at the table of greats, but it wouldn’t have happened without all the hard work and the luck that came your way. Take a chance to get a chance.

Advertisements

Work your way to success

If you wait until you feel motivated to do something, you’ll continue to be stuck in a motionless rut. For me, I had a year long hiatus for my blog. But since September I’ve promised myself I need to publish 2 articles each week, no matter if they are 50 words or 500 words. No matter if it just my stream of conscious or a substantial post.

You won’t think your way into completing your goals, you need to just sit down and say “I will do something today even if it’s just – (fill in the blank with your goal) reading one page, writing one sentence, drawing one flower”. Over time these small accomplishments will become a measurable improvement towards reaching your goal. You will feel so much better and confident with yourself when you prove that you can stick to something and finish it. We gain this confidence by doing, not by thinking.

Relax

Sitting back and relaxing is all it’s cracked up to be. I love leisure time. I love relaxing. I love forgetting my fears and worries and just having a good time. This is both good for our mental health and our physical health. We need time to sit back and relax to recharge our batteries. Sleep is necessary. Caring for yourself is necessary.

Just remember that when it is game time, make moves. You can relax and you should, but make sure you keep track of your goals and stay ontop of your New Year’s Resolution gameplan. Your gameplan was your guide that you made, your schedule, your benchmarks to which you would measure your goal’s completion. Remember to relax, but don’t forget to keep moving

Keep moving

If you ever find yourself stuck somewhere – a job you dislike, a relationship that isn’t working, a life you don’t want – you have the power to change it. First, give yourself some space to relax and don’t be so hard on yourself. Sometimes we have to choose between limited options in life and we end up somewhere we never thought we would. Maybe you swore you wouldn’t follow in your parents’ footsteps, maybe you wanted to move out of your hometown, whatever it is you hoped and dreamed… you can still make moves towards changing your life. You can redirect your sails and steer yourself to a different island. Even if you feel all out of hope. Maybe you wanted to be a soccer star and you’re now in your mid-sixties. Well, maybe you could work towards a similar, adjacent dream. You could become an assistant soccer coach or maybe a referee for a young adult soccer team. Your dreams don’t have to die, they only die if you let them.

Keep dreaming, but start doing. Make moves towards the changes you want to see in your life and maybe you won’t reach those dreams, but you might step into a new dream. Because, you’ll be better off doing 1 pushup per day for a year rather than not doing any pushups. If you read one page every day for a year, that is one more book per year that you have read. Small incremental efforts over a long period of time add up to measurable results. Just remember, if you do nothing then you’ll stay put. If you start moving, you’ll at least get somewhere.

Your best life

Living your best life means living life on your terms. Sure, certain things are completely out of our hands and not in our control, such as other people’s actions, the weather, and unforeseen external circumstances. But we all have the ability to live life on our own terms. If we don’t like where we are or what we are doing or we want to improve our skills, we can make a change!

Sometimes I feel stuck in my life, but I keep moving anyway. I keep trying new things. I keep pushing when I feel uncomfortable or sad. My depression tries to slow me down, my anxiety tries to pull on me, and sometimes they do get the best of me. But I will always come out on top because I won’t stop moving. Even if I get slowed down, even if I stutter, or stop completely, I start back up – and you can too. If you don’t like something about your life you can change it. So, change it.

New Year, Same Cliche

Around this time every year, people make new year resolutions to change their life, be it their mind, body, or spirit. We have an ideal that we want to live up to in our head. And when we fall short of our goals, they either become a passing thought or a source of deep resentment. If you find yourself at the end of January wondering how you fell short of your goal, it may be because of one fatal flaw…

Instead of making a new year resolution and writing down every goal you want to accomplish, write down a gameplan. So, this year don’t just dream and wish and hope for your life to change, actually take steps to make it happen. Create a plan that you can do to take one step closer to your goal. And don’t be afraid to abandon your plan if you find that your goal wasn’t something you actually wanted in the first place. Maybe you took some steps in the right direction but found that this thing doesn’t live up to the hype in your head. But the point is – you gave it a try!

Don’t be so hard on yourself. Show yourself patience and kindness this year.

Self-care your way to a better life

When you have a busy life, it is hard to take the proper time out to recharge your batteries. If you continue to do and to move and go without tending to your needs, you’ll eventually run out of steam.

This holiday season, take some time to relax, have some fun, and spend time with those you care about. This necessary downtime will help you get a better perspective on what you’re working towards. You sacrifice enough during the year working missing out on good times, and being too tired to spend time with your kids – this is your time to get a new outlook on life to remember what is important.

Self-care isn’t some silly fad or a made up concept. It’s real. Self-care your way to a better new year – a better you in 2019. Cheers!

Depression around the holidays

For some of us, depression may hit the hardest around the holidays. Whether the holiday cheer is just a little too cheery, the cold weather brings us down, or family issues – depression can rear its mighty roar during these festive seasons. Just remember there are helplines out there in case you are feeling extra down. If you text “Home” to 741741 when you are feeling depressed, sad, or going through an emotional crisis, a crisis worker will text you back immediately and continue to text with you. It’s a free service to anyone who lives in the US.

Please stay safe this holiday season and try to remember that life can change, things will get better, and you are supported and loved. No matter what circumstance you are currently in, it is never too late to get back on track.

Significance vs Success

You would think that by focusing on being successful, that you would automatically, by default,  be significant. But this isn’t true. Only by being significant can you achieve success. Let me explain…

Not all success looks the same. The definition of success differs by person and by industry. You could be successful for your position in your field and that could be different from another person’s successful career.

Success follows significance. If you make it so that you are important, have a particular knowledge or skillset, then you will be significant. Significant people become successful because they are the ones who either ask the right questions or identify the right problems and then solve them.

So if you want success, make sure you chase significance.

Boredom and mental health

If you find yourself constantly bored with what you are doing, who you are doing it with, or just your life in general, you are more likely to face some kind of mental health issue too. Now, who’s to say which came first, the boredom or depression. They may go hand in hand. But keeping busy with productive, challenging work and spending quality time with loved ones and making memories with friends will surely help stave off your sense of boredom. Just be wary of the fact you might be trying to fight boredom for the wrong reasons. Are you just scared of being alone with your racing thoughts?

Either way, people who are prone to boredom are more prone to anxiety, depression, and OCD. When I read this statistic in this article it really struck a cord with me. I tell everyone how bored I feel all the time and I suffer from all 3 of those conditions. Now I am trying to come up with better ways to help make my mental health better and not be bored all the time. I’ve heard it before that people who are bored are boring people. But it may not be as simple as that. It may be a more complex, deep layered feeling that goes hand in hand with your mental health.