The wonderful response we received through likes and shares to a quote we posted on our Facebook page about a week ago, made us decide to dedicate this month’s blog post to the topic.
“You have the power to change your story, no matter what page you’re on.”
I feel sure that many would agree that life in general is difficult for everyone! Regardless of what stage of life we are in; childhood, adolescent, or adulthood, we all feel stuck at times. Sometimes it’s a specific challenge, or a range of difficult challenges, it may be experiences that cause unbearable pain, feelings that weigh us down, or anxiety and fear of the unknown. At these times we find it difficult to see the light or even muster the strength to keep going, to feel motivated, to hold onto hope. We wake up every morning with a feeling of dread in the pit of our belly, a feeling like life is being drained from our body. We yearn to turn the page of this chapter but struggle to find the strength or believe that there will be change.
As impossible as it seems, especially when we are sitting in the darkness of despair, there is a way out. The first step to seeing change in our life is to believe it. We have the power to change our story. When we change our thoughts, we begin to change our words and then our actions follow. Depending on the type of change we’re hoping for, some of us can make drastic changes in our lives, with drastic results. Different approaches work for different people. The trick is to find what works for you.
Let’s try this; imagine you’re in your room and you want to re-arrange some furniture and declutter your space. You have a picture in your head of how you want your room to look. You focus on the room as it is now, and then use your energy to start moving one thing at a time, until it looks as close to the picture you had in your head as possible. Now apply the same concept to what you want to change in your life. Identify what you want to change and then focus your energy on that. Take the steps necessary to achieve the goal, small steps made consistently over time result in giant leaps. So, for example, you want to start living a healthy lifestyle. You sign up to go to the gym. That’s the first step. Then the next step would be to set realistic goals. Determine the number of days you want to go to the gym. Then workout the number of days you have available to actually go. Going to the gym even once a week, is already a positive step in the right direction. Once you get into the routine of being active, you may increase the number of weekly gym sessions, and start focusing on other areas such as changing your diet, going on hikes, joining a cycling club…….
We have the power to change our story no matter what page we’re on. So, start, just step out and take one small step, forwards, in the direction of your picture, and you will see how each step moves you closer to changing your story.
“A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu