“Do what is right, not what is easy” – Unknown
As we journey through life facing our issues, taking responsibility for them and fighting the good fight, at some point it’s important that we reset, refresh and reflect on what our next steps should look like. One essential aspect to next steps is they should never be rushed, fall under the airs of compulsion or become regarded as obligatory, at least to ourselves.
You see, it would be too easy to grab hold of a mission that feels right to someone else, check a box that meets the criteria of a critic or simply press forward out of sheer guilt. The next steps of our lives should not only signify more, but they should declare our growth, our newness and our newfound love for life.
Therefore we must administer patience towards ourselves and take each step with careful and meaningful intention to what matters most. And only “you” should have the authority to determine what that looks like. It should never be defined by what you use to be, or what others think of you. The path forward is your new road, your new creation and should reflect just that, YOU.
Now this is not to say we should stop considering the important advisors in our lives, (we know who they are) and become an island. Quite the contrary! It means we continue doing life in community, but we never fail to consider our own thoughts, dreams and ideas as relevant. They must be recognized and become a part of the essential mix of what our future looks like.
Unlike in the past, our steps should be slow, deliberate and methodical. We no longer have the luxury of repeating the poor choices from our past. They hurt more and set us back in a grander way, therefore taking our time must become a part of the new equation for executing next steps.
So, no rushing, no quit fixes and no ill-willed decisions based on past guilt or current disappointments. Breathe, take your time and test what you’re pondering. Bounce the ideas off a trusted friend or counselor. Once settled, go for it. Own it and live in it.
Life is short, but also remember it’s not a race against someone else, only ourselves. Therefore, let’s learn, truly learn from our past, and make what we have left better, richer and more meaningful. Take it one day at at time. You will get there.
Keep Pressing,
Hank G