Take A Deep Breath And Start Again

I mess up a lot. I fail quite often. I get uncomfortable making small talk and often say stupid things. I make a lot of mistakes. I don't have my shit together. I have started a lot of things I haven't finished. I have trouble keeping with an exercise plan. I become frustrated, angry, disappointed, sad, bitter and fed up, sometimes all in the same day. I look back at my life and wish I had done some things differently. I think about my past and feel guilty for things I did. I allow fear to keep me from doing things. I become cynical and sarcastic way too easily. I do a lot of things wrong. I procrastinate. I don't always give my all.

I have a life I am proud of. I get to go to work each day and help animals and people have better lives. I have the ability to make changes in my life and stick with them when I need to. I have amazing people around me who don't care about the first paragraph. When I fail, I get back up. I wake up every morning knowing the day is a fresh start to do new things. I try to incorporate what I write about into my life, even when I am not always perfect at doing it. I accept the fact I have done stupid things in the past and forgive myself for doing them. I try to overcome fear whenever I can. I work hard. I am constantly learning new things.

I'm not an expert in how to live life anymore than any of you are. I have done a lot of things and I have faced a lot of hardships, but I am still learning and growing each and every day. I'm going to continue to make mistakes and fail and say stupid things. I am going to do things I am not proud of. I'm also going to succeed and do things right and say smart things. I am going to do things I am proud of.

I have to give myself some credit and cut myself some slack. I have to learn. I have to try. I have to accept and embrace change. I have to put in the work. I have to get up when I fall. I have to try to live each day a little better than the day before. I have to take a deep breath and start again.

Remember Why

For those of us constantly searching, how do you slow your mind down and focus on the tasks at hand? How do you find the motivation and the drive to do what you do? Just because the motivation wanes, we don't have to run from one thing to the next. Motivation will get lost from time to time. Every now and again, we will question what it is we do and why we do it. Hell, we might question it every day, but we will still get up each morning to do it again. Why?

For many of us, we have passion for what we do, but it isn't the passion we want to have. We want to jump out of bed every morning excited to attack the work. We want to have an endless supply of motivation and positive feelings about the work we do. Some people may have this, but for most of us, we don't. That's okay. The problems start when we begin to dwell on the fact we aren't feeling what we want to feel. We don't want to admit we may not ever feel what we want to feel because we may not be wired to feel it or we may not let ourselves feel it.

It's okay to do work you aren't over the top passionate about all the time. Everyone has their ups and downs and everyone has doubts. We can question what we do or who we are over and over again, but questioning alone changes nothing. Constantly changing focus when the motivation wanes also changes nothing. There will be times when you have to push through the lack of motivation and keep on doing the work at hand. The motivation may come back or it may not. The majority of the time, it does come back. 

For most of us, there was a reason we started doing the work we are doing. Do you remember why you do what you do? Picture why you started. Picture your goals and dreams as it applies to what you do. Picture a good day. When you are having the down times, is there something you can do to help you remember these things? Write down what you pictured and have it in an accessible place. When you feel the motivation wane or you don't want to do it anymore, pull it out and read what you pictured. This may just give you the boost you need to get through the day. Tomorrow will always be a new day. 

Know What You're Chasing

When we become frustrated or disillusioned, too many of us hope some change will drop from the sky and fall into our lap. We bitch and moan about how we aren't happy with what we are doing or wish we could do more. Most of us never move past the bitching and moaning stage and spend our lives trying to deal with the disappointment.

Change is never going to fall from the sky and land in our laps. Things will never magically get better if we don't do something about it. If you want a change, make a change. This doesn't always mean quit; this may mean make the changes you want to see. Sometimes, we do have to quit and search for something better, something that matters to us.

Many times, though, we have to take what we are doing and make it better. We have to make the changes we want to see. We have to turn what we are doing into something magical for us. This isn't easy, but people do this each and every day. These people are no better than you and me, they just know bitching and moaning does nothing to make things better. Figure out what needs to change and change it. Look within and find the happiness and do it. Most of us are doing what we, at one time, enjoyed doing. Before running away, look to see what you can change to bring back the old feelings.

If you find it, great! If not, then start searching for something else to make you happy. Look inside first. Quit second. We can't spend our lives chasing something if we don't know what that something is.