Category Archives: motivational

motivational

One thing at a time

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Our recent move was overwhelming at times. Unpacking and setting up our new home has also been overwhelming.

I look around and see nine hundred things that need to be done, and I feel like I will never get it done. On top of that, I know that what I see is only part of the things on my plate. I have a web-site to do, a business card to edit, and ads to create (among other things). I’m keeping up this blog, and doing my 365. I have bills to pay, but I can’t sit down to work long enough to make the money to pay them.

Suddenly, as I let those realizations sink in, I get that feeling. The one in the pit of my stomach that says, “I’ll never be able to do it all!” Then I get a headache and dizzy, and then I have the urge to just sit down and cry.

Its in that moment that I sit back and I tell myself, “Yes, you will. One thing at a time. You will do it all.”

Life can get overwhelming. Life IS overwhelming in general! And we all have our moments when we fee like the world is crashing down around us. Deadlines to meet. Social events to attend. Bills to pay. Chores to do. Appointments to make. It is all just too much.

I know. I feel it, too. Often.

But, ultimately, one thing at a time. It’s all you can do. Sometimes, just realizing that will make you more productive! I know any time I’d get overwhelmed with the move, if I would just stop and remind myself to take it one thing at a time (or, okay, I’d text my Mom and she’d remind me to take it one thing at a time)… I’d end up getting twice as much stuff done. If I didn’t beat myself up that I “couldn’t do it,” I’d literally just do it.

I know, I’m simplifying things, but sometimes simplifying things is exactly what makes anything possible. So anytime you get overwhelmed and it all just seems too much, take a moment to remember to take one thing at a time. You can only do what you can do. And that really is enough.

faith, motivational, optimism

A year of beginnings

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Going into this year, I said time and time again how the new year had to be better than the last. Moving would be forcing us to make big changes, and it would also give us a new place from which to leap into the year.

Here we are, 12 days into the new year, and as I talk to friends (or as I skim Facebook) I find that a strong majority of my friends and family are also using 2011 for new beginnings.

I know of at least four weddings this year, if not five. I know of several pregnancies. Friends are also packing up and making big moves. Still others are looking for new jobs. Some have even opted to go back to school.

Everywhere I look, I see everyone with something new… even if its simply a new life motto. It’s almost as if we all took 2010 to try to “fix” things, while 2011 is instead a reboot for us all.

As I look around me, I still see so very many problems in my country and in the world. But I’ve always believed big change happens after individual changes are made. It only takes a spark to start a fire, after all.

And perhaps, instead of trying to fix problems, or instead of looking at the big picture and how “dismal” things are (because, c’mon, last year we looked at the big picture a LOT with government deficits, etc.), if we all just take the initiative to fix things individually and internally, we can start to see some changes to the big picture. Even a forest grows one tree at a time, after all.

I don’t know! Maybe my optimistic self is starting to bounce back these days, but I am really feeling hopeful for this year. Not just for myself, but for all of my friends and family. For everyone who is making changes, no matter how big or how small. Dream your dreams. Make your new goals. Make those crazy changes you’ve been afraid to make. You’ll never know what kind of positive change it could be until you try.