Take baby steps instead of waiting for something big to happen.
We've all been faced with challenges throughout our lives, some more than others; all of a sudden, your life has changed dramatically.
Struggling to cope with a mix of emotions, such as fear, sadness, and loneliness. It can feel like everything is just hanging in the air, full of uncertainty.
When will it end? And what to do in the meantime?
The easiest and most obvious answer is: wait. Wait. That’s a heavy word.
Waiting can mean a number of things. It can mean literally standing or sitting somewhere, letting the time pass until something happens. Waiting to check out groceries. Waiting for your appointment.
But waiting can also happen in the background. You wait for better days while enduring the bad ones. You wait for an opportunity, something better.
The problem with waiting is that it’s incredibly scary and triggering. You’re investing time into wanting a certain outcome. And will it happen?
Maybe. Maybe not. Depends on what you’re waiting for.
Waiting can mean fantasizing about an imagined future. A future that, if and when you reach it, can also mean disappointment.
You have to allow yourself to grow through the circumstances given to you. You must let yourself navigate life letting uncertainty carry you, and be inspired by the mystery of life.
Surrendering is a process. It won’t be overnight that you think and feel differently. You have to give up on your fears, insecurities, and struggles and let in the bravery to live this life. You have to let go and say, “Even if I don’t see a way out, I will still find it. It’s not over yet.”
So while you are waiting, there are a number of things you can do.
“The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
Define what living means to you.
I know it may sound a little cliché, but have you ever really considered what that word means?
More importantly, what that word means to you?
It’s a word that has a different meaning for everybody.
For some people, living is simply defined as something like “having a good laugh”, “living each day like it’s your last” or “doing something scary each day”.
For others it’s finding love, making the purpose of their life to help others, to witness their family thrive and be happy, or to purely ‘create’.
I think it's also important to realize that ‘Living’ means different things at different stages of our own lives too.
Think of things in terms of what they are, not what they should be.
We tend to envision how things in our life should look like. I should be at this stage right now. Things should have panned out that way.
The problem with imagining a different present from the real one is that you’re trying to change something that has already happened. Things are the way they are. Nothing you do is going to change that.
What you can do, though, is change how you perceive where you’re at right now. No matter what’s happening, there are things to be thankful for. You can choose how to respond to what’s in front of you. You can choose how you spend your time right now.
When You’re Living, You Aren’t Waiting
Time waits for no one. Every day and every hour that you wait to be happy, wait to enjoy things in your life, is a day that you could have been ultimately and fully enjoying your life.
Each day is an opportunity to live your fullest life or an opportunity to cheat yourself out of the juiciness that life has to offer because you think you're supposed to hold off on being happy, or having any fun, until the uncertainty goes away.
When you’re busy, you’re not waiting. When you’re having fun, you’re not waiting. You’re living.
Stop waiting for something to happen to make things fall into line.
Right here in this moment.
Tickle your spouse. Dance in the kitchen. Talk in muppet voices. Laugh at fart jokes for goodness-sakes.
Think about it this way, you're like a bud opening into a beautiful flower. But a flower doesn't open all at once. It's not like it's a bud one moment and then BOOM the next second it's a beautiful blossom.
No!
It takes time. One pedal at a time flourishes outward to express it's beauty until the entire flower is open and glorious. But we all love to look at roses when they're still not fully bloomed. They're still gorgeous in process.
And so are you.
You don't have to wait to be fully bloomed, for your journey to be fully realized, for you to appreciate yourself, your life, and enjoy the hell out of every moment.
Start today. I dare you.
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