You can’t lift a thousand pounds all at once, yet you can easily lift one pound a thousand times. Small repeated efforts will get you there this year.
Adopted and adapted from an article written by Marc Chernoff
https://www.marcandangel.com/2024/01/10/7-things-you-should-insist-on-no-matter-what-people-say/
It’s never too late or too early to start making positive changes in your life this year. Your future is always affected by what you start doing today. Yet so many people wait around for some arbitrary date and time, like next year, to take action. Don’t be one of them! Don’t stall on yourself! It’s time to…
1. Start putting your heart and soul into the things you do
There’s a big difference between empty fatigue and gratifying exhaustion. This year aim for the latter. Too often we wait around because we think we need to “find” something new or different to be passionate about, but that’s not true. If you want more passion and satisfaction in your life, act accordingly right now. Put your whole heart and soul into the next thing you do. Not into tomorrow’s opportunities, but the opportunity right in front of you. Not into tomorrow’s tasks, but today’s tasks.
In the end, purpose is the reason your journey and passion is the fire that lights your way. So, start believing in your heart that you’re meant to live each day full of purpose and passion — that each and every moment is worthy in its own way. You have people and circumstances in your life that need you as much as you need them. You have a massive reservoir of passionate potential within you, just waiting. Stop waiting!
2. Start stretching yourself in the right ways
Again, many great things can be done in a day if you don’t always make that day tomorrow. Will it always be easy? No, but remember that when you’re struggling to make progress that’s when you actually are. You want to be stretched to the edge of your ability — it needs to be slightly hard and uncomfortable sometimes. Of course, most of us don’t want to be uncomfortable, so we subconsciously run from the possibility of discomfort. The obvious problem with this is that, by running from discomfort, we are constrained to partake in only the opportunities within our comfort zones. And since our comfort zones are relatively small, we miss out on most of life’s greatest and healthiest experiences, and we get stuck in a debilitating cycle.
Choose differently starting today! Go to environments that expand your mind. Spend time with people who inspire you to stretch yourself. Read books. Grow. Get better. The rest of this year is in your hands.
3. Start subtracting what doesn’t belong in your life
When you discover something that nourishes your soul and brings you joy — something that truly matters to you — care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life. And if you find that you don’t have enough time for what matters, stop doing things that don’t. In other words, start subtracting what isn’t working for you from the get-go this year.
Every time you subtract negative from your life, you make room for more positive. Let that sink in. When things aren’t adding up in your life, begin subtracting. Life gets a lot simpler and more enjoyable when you clear the emotional and physical clutter that makes it unnecessarily complicated. And there’s so much you can let go of in life without losing a thing. It’s called growth. Letting go of the old makes way for the new. Letting go of what isn’t working makes way for what will. When the pain of holding on is worse than the pain of letting go, it’s time to let go and grow.
4. Start upholding your boundaries
Not all toxic relationship situations are agonizing and uncaring on purpose. Some of them involve people who care about you — people who have good intentions, but are toxic because their needs and way of existing in the world force you to compromise yourself and your happiness. They aren’t inherently bad people, but they aren’t the right people to be spending time with.
You simply can’t ruin yourself on a daily basis for the sake of someone else. You have to create boundaries and make your well-being a priority. Whether that means breaking up with someone, loving a family member from a distance, letting go of a social obligation, or removing yourself from a daily situation that feels painful — you have every right to create some healthy space for yourself this year.
5. Start leaving other people’s judgmental opinions alone
Tune out people who take cheap shots at you. Don’t waste words on people who deserve your silence. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can say is nothing at all. Before you waste your energy on anger, spite, or frustration, think of how precious and irreplaceable your time is, and carry on with grace.
Some problems in life, such as not knowing what others think of you, are not really meant to be resolved. You can’t control how other people feel, or how they receive your energy. Anything you do or say gets filtered through a mindset occupied by whatever they are going through at the moment, which likely has nothing to do with you. Just keep doing your thing with as much love and passion as possible.
6. Start embracing your humanness
“Human” is the only real label we are born with, yet we forget so easily. To become attached to loaded labels like overweight, single, diseased, recovering, rejected, or poor, is to ignore that we are far more than the shape we are or were in. And we, like the wind, water, and sky, will change forms many times in our lives, while forever remaining beautifully human.
Have you made your amends? If so, then it’s time to forgive yourself for the bad decisions you made, for the times you lacked understanding, for the choices that accidentally hurt others and yourself. Forgive yourself if you once sought to escape life’s difficult times through numbing with alcohol or sex or drugs. And what matters most right now is your willingness to recover and learn and grow.
Once we forgive ourselves and fully embrace our humanness, it’s almost funny to see how seamlessly we can adapt to life’s transitions — how we outgrow what we once thought we couldn’t live without, and then we fall in love with what we didn’t even know we wanted. You’ve been through a lot, and you’ve grown a lot too. Give yourself credit for the steps you’ve taken, so you can step forward again with grace.
7. Start reminding yourself of why every step matters.
In the end all the small things make a big difference. Every step is crucial. Life isn’t about a single moment of great triumph and attainment. It’s about the trials and errors that slowly get you there — the blood, sweat, tears, and the small, inconsequential things you do on a day-to-day basis. It all matters in the end — every step, every regret, every decision, every minor setback and minuscule win.
The seemingly useless happenings do add up to something. The minimum-wage job you had. The evenings you spent socializing with coworkers you never see anymore. The hours you spent writing thoughts on a personal blog that no one reads. Contemplations about elaborate future plans that never came to be. All those lonely nights spent reading novels and news columns and comic strips, questioning your own principles on life and sex and religion and whether or not you’re good enough just the way you are.
All of this has strengthened you. All of this has led you to every success you’ve ever had. All of this has made you who you are today. And all of this proves that you have the strength to deal with the challenges in front of you. Keep giving yourself grace, and carry on, for the rest of 2024 and beyond!