Getting to realise that you need to change the way you do certain things is never really the difficult part. It’s putting this change into practice that is the hard part. I don’t know about you but I sometimes feel like change is just so hard to achieve. Sometimes you try and try to make it but it seems like all your efforts are going to waste and more often than not you feel like you running around in circles and always find yourself back at square one. The hardest thing to grasp though is that you usually get to a place in your life where you want to see change after you have been motivated by something be it a motivational speech, or a powerful sermon at church or a friend who has just told you the most inspiring story ever and you tell yourself you know what I can change this aspect of my life and I can make a change for the better in character, or the way I look at things or my dreams...you name it. For the first couple of weeks you are feeling like you on top of the world and are pumped for change only to find that after a couple of weeks when nothing seems to be going right you start to feel defeated. Sometimes things get even worse than before and you just say to yourself man this is not working, this is hard, this is going nowhere, maybe I should quit, who am I fooling I could never pull this off!
I just want to encourage you today that you can make it. You can overcome. You need to keep your head up and try even harder. Here are some things that you need to shake off if you wanna see change:
1. A big part of the problem is that we sometimes set goals that are so high that we are bound to fail. Then when we fail we feel so bad that we don’t actually see the tremendous progress we have made. Let’s look at a simple example for illustrative purposes, say you have committed to reducing the amount of retail therapy you give yourself because you feel that it has gotten out of hand. So say you used to buy a pair of shoes every week and then you decide that you won’t buy any in 3months...wow that’s a very ambitious goal...but anyway say you do well for a month then in the 2nd month you happen to buy a pair of shoes because you just couldn’t help it. Then you get home and you feel like you are such a failure, that you just can’t do anything right and you feel so guilty for the next thousand years. Instead of beating yourself up about it look at the progress you have made. You used to shop every week but now you don’t. You have been disciplined for a whole month and you ought to be proud of that and let that inspire you to keep doing better.
2. Don’t compare your scorecard to other people’s scorecards: You are not somebody else; you don’t know for sure what other people are going through or what sort of issues they are dealing with. You may have an idea maybe
because they are your friends but they are not you. If God wanted us all to be the same He would have made one person. Comparing yourself to other people is a sure way to get discouraged and feel like you have not made any progress. Set your own goals and be proud that you are doing something about them. It’s great to speak to others about how they are doing for inspiration but if you keep obsessing about it then you stunt your own growth.
3. Change is not easy: You can’t wish to change today and expect that next week you will be on top of your game. Change is a process, it is not easy. It is an everyday commitment. You gotta tell yourself everyday that you are going to stay on track because sometimes it’s just easier to get back to old habits because they are familiar. The only difference between those who make it and those who don’t is that those who make it tell themselves everyday that they will try again. If you get down, dust yourself off and try again.
4. Sometimes it’s hard to change because no one may believe you, or because you keep hanging around the same people and you cannot see yourself growing in the direction in which you hope to. They haven’t had the same realisations that you have had so of course they don’t understand this new you. Depending on what sort of change you are looking at, it may be necessary to tell those around you that look you may not understand what I am doing but this is important for me and I will do so much better if you guys are behind me supporting me. In other cases it is necessary to distance yourself from the things that are not good for you. You need not be afraid of evolving into the person you are meant to be and to do that sometimes you need to load shed...hahaha that means you need to leave behind things or people that get in the way of your progress.
5. And finally, be patient. Good things come to those who wait. Just because you can’t see the results of your hard work today doesn’t mean that they will never come. Keep on trying and one day you will see all you have worked hard for manifest in your life.
Be Blessed,
Be the change you want to see
with love...tafie
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