Building A Better You

The Only Thing Holding You Back, Is You It’s easy to fall back into old habits. When I run into difficulties, or obstacles, there’s a big part of me that wants to say, “Well, looks like the end!” I’m not even talking about major obstacles. It can be as simple as not growing as quickly as I thought I would, or wanted to. This is usually the result of me comparing myself to others. Also, setting expectations, which I have generally found to be a trap. Sometimes, it’s not knowing what to write about. I feel like I need to have everything planned out and know what I’m going to say from start to finish. Even though, time and time again I have proven this to be false. I manage to convince myself that all the great writers, all the people I enjoy reading, they have it all figured out and it’s effortless for them. Somehow, I have learned to equate effort with some sort of failure on my part. As in: If I’m actually good at this, it should flow freely and easily. Kinda messed up, huh? I’m certai...

I loved the path of least resistance. It made me feel smart. It made me feel accomplished. Why not? I was getting things done! Checking them off and moving on to the next thing. I thought people who didn’t were being foolish. Why work harder than you need to? Or, maybe they weren’t very good at what they were doing, and should move on to something that they  were  good at. That’s what I did. I had enough money, and I changed jobs frequently so it kept things interesting. It worked great for a long time. Until it didn’t. At some point, I paused long enough to look honestly at my life and take stock of what I had accomplished. I was a well respected worker at my last 10 or so jobs. But, I never stuck around long enough to really be promoted, or accomplish anything of significance. Having dabbled in numerous hobbies, I had passing familiarity with a variety of things: music, whittling, making chainmail, crochet, gardening, sewing, etc. Along with that knowledge, I also had heaps ...