Setbacks are inevitable. Sometimes the setback is within our control; sometimes it's not. Sometimes our mindsets can help us move quickly past them; sometimes they don't.
Sometimes our mindsets are not that easy to shift. Sometimes we need to process and experience our feelings in order to move forward.
When I started weight training, I shared with you a setback I had with sore muscles that was outside of my control. I didn't spend a lot of time wondering what I had done wrong and what I could have done to prevent it, I just decided how I was going to move forward. This time, just like last time, the event itself was outside of my control.
But my mindset was within my control.
Even though I had dealt with this multiple times, and I knew I could handle it, I just didn't want to! I was tired of feeling like I was always in a position of realigning, re-planning, and adjusting. I gave myself permission to feel bad and to process that. I didn't tell myself not to feel bad (which would have made me feel worse) and I didn't push myself to move past it too quickly (which would have made me feel more stuck).
Sometimes we need time and space to recover. Sometimes the learning isn't instantly available. Coaching yourself on your mindset doesn't mean that you'll feel good all the time, and everything will be easy. Sometimes the answers aren't meant to be immediate or obvious. Instead of trying to push through bad feelings, sometimes we need to stop and give ourselves permission to experience them. Through experiencing them, they will actually pass more quickly than if we try to push past them and the answer of why they're there and what they're there to teach us will be more accessible.
Most of us navigate life fearing mistakes and failure. But why? What's the worst that's going to happen? In most cases, it's not the thing that we fear or that we imagine in our minds.
The worst thing that will actually happen in most cases is that we will allow those thoughts to prevent us from moving forward and we will indeed keep ourselves stuck. And when that happens, the setback becomes permanent.
By giving ourselves permission to just feel the way we feel and to experience those feelings, we can actually free ourselves up from the feelings and move forward. More on that in my next message.
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