Recall a split-second you dreadfully & sincerely wondered to yourself:
"How will I ever get over this?"
Whatever "this" stands for in your unique story...
We've all had similarly lonesome instances where a trusted confidante somehow unbelievably could not have felt any further away 😔
But you're still here...are you not? 👀
Absolutely, you are! 100% 👊🏼
As Dr. Joe Dispenza says:
"We are defined by our adversity."
As Marie Forleo says:
"Everything is figureoutable."
As Dr. Jodie Eckleberry-Hunt said in her 2023 release Badass Stories:
"Imagine if your story was written by somebody else.
Wouldn't you find some level of admiration or even inspiration?"
I know that I would! How about you, reader? 🤔
Through strenuous breakups, powerful grief, influential feuds, livelihood hardships, and/or monetary struggles, we've all ignorantly learned a distinct lesson (at one point or another) that life isn't as certain as we tend to assume ❌
Life is a rough draft ✏️
Or rather...a series of rough drafts 🗓️
"Even the careless driver who cut you off in traffic feels unsettlingly worried, uncomfortably anxious or unbearably distracted about a particular person, place or thing 🚙
We ALL have minds evidently plagued by a prevalent, well-known thought, often one of our own making 💭
One that we’d wish nearly anything away to be able to entirely ignore 👋🏼"
Sure...it would feel indescribably marvelous to know the destination of your journey(s) prior to setting out on them...wouldn't it?
Realistically...how much of your growth would you be squandering entirely for a mere sense of avoiding a bit of uncomfortable confrontation? 🤔
Trust me, I hate that I'm saying it too...but ⬇️
A complicated life is still worth feeling immense gratitude over ❤️
For example, the juggernaut of a job market is nearly impossible to navigate these days 😩
I recently discovered that the job market today is worse than it's been in over 50 years.
Every time I visit LinkedIn, I swear every post on my feed is captioned with #layoffs or #opentowork ❤️🩹
But! 👇🏼
That doesn't mean we should give up and simply settle, right?
Positives are repeatedly hidden within negatives if you keep your chin up & eyes open 👀
Keep in mind that I've had a bit of experience in this arena.
(Skip past this tiny section to hear less about me 👇🏼)
In my case, if I weren't laid off back in early 2022, I would've never:
Launched a freelance career
Failed (a lot) before flourishing
Redesigned my website front-to-back
Crafted a vast portfolio featuring new references
Set time aside to write personally & professionally
Earned certifications in digital and promotional marketing tactics
And of course, the most important:
Lost 30+ pounds 💪🏼
Inscribed 2nd Edition's for grateful loved ones 💖
Took up DJing as a delightfully challenging hobby 🎶
Caught up on every favorite show, book, and series 📺
Spent precious moments with family, friends, and doggos 🐶
If you know me, you know of a literal lifetime of working toward the ability to compliment myself, though that's not our focus today ⬇️
As Jay Shetty notes in his 2020 release Think Like a Monk:
"We are defined by the narrative that we write for ourselves every day."
Powerful, huh? 👏🏼
My question to you, reader, is this:
How are you talking to yourself?
In your pending rough draft(s), what vocabulary are you using in conversations with you?
Jay Shetty continues: ⬇️
"We say things to ourselves that we would never say to people we love.
We all know the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
To that I would add: Treat yourself with the same love and respect you want to show others."
I'll be the first to admit that I can be awfully crude to myself.
I wish that weren't the truth, but it is. I'm improving, though 📈
In all seriousness, many of us fit all too easily into these vile shoes 👟
Other than continuously outting myself again & again (at the expense of a timid childhood personality of reputable secrecy and modesty), the only real way for us (as a collective group) to revel in satisfaction is to eye ourselves in the mirror and ask:
"What am I writing in my rough draft(s)?" ✏️
And thoroughly remember that...they're rough drafts! 👍🏼
They won't be published until long after we've departed this planet 🌎
Dive deep & indulge me for a second:
Let's get serious.
Step into the shoes of your past self 👞
Visualize 3-5 moments (in your lifetime) that felt legitimately insurmountable. The conceivable idea to conquer these forgotten milestones of the past were once a dreamy, unrealistic fairytale.
It would've felt like less of a fantasy to conquer Everest ⛰️
Have you ever sat down and wholly revisited these terrifying seconds that you've willingly blocked out of your memory bank? (Unless, of course, that's just me? 😅)
My stubborn conscience refused to reminisce on occasions when I wholeheartedly didn't like the person that I was whatsoever. It's sad, though transparently true.
But if I willingly ignore times overflowing with insecurity, self-doubt, and swarms of unmanageable worry? What exactly am I left with? How does one take note of progress without a notable starting point? 📈
That's the thing...they cannot.
The past is unchangeable & the future is unknowable.
The present is a sequence of countless unending opportunities to reinvent yourself (using the inspiringly dynamic duo: the context of the past plus the achievable promise of the future) ✨
Allow me to rephrase my point a different way:
Say you're happily married in 2023.
Bravo! Cheers! Hats off to you 🎩
Wind the clocks back 5-10 years, however...
You haven't met your lovable partner just yet.
Instead, you're in a relationship with someone else 🫢
Perhaps cringey to revisit, but assuredly worth it 👌🏼
Trust me, we're not calling or texting anyone today ❌
But stick with me here...⬇️
Believe it or not, this person brought value into your life (and continues to do so!) 😳
Let me explain ⬇️
This is the human being who displayed the future of what you're romantically in search of 🔍
Without them, you may halt the development of your personality significantly! After all, how do you learn the right one without experiencing the wrong one?
Every experience you endure/enjoy is part of the journey 😊
That journey is what made you!
As Oprah famously said:
"No experience is ever wasted, everything has meaning."
On top of that, she added:
"Everything that is happening to you is being drawn into your life as a means to help you evolve into who you were really meant to be here on Earth."
Everything is a matter of perspective 🧠
Hollywood provides countess examples of this 🎥
Rocky could've called it quits after Apollo squandered his reputation to the press 🥊
Eminem could've fled into self-pity and never appeared at the final battle 🎤
Luke could've been too distraught to take on Vader after losing Ben 🚀
Simba could've used overwhelm to turn a blind eye to Pride Rock 🦁
We could go on for days but here's the point ⬇️
A traffic jam causes distress until you've been laid off.
A layoff feels like a tragedy until you've experienced the loss of a loved one.
A stain on your shirt feels like a disaster until you've just survived a car accident.
A parking ticket feels like a catastrophe until you've endured heartbreak from a breakup.
Again, we could go on for days, but I'll cut us all some slack 👊🏼
After all, none of us have it figured out, am I right? 😅
If I could hit you with a friendly piece of advice before you go...
It'd be to kick off your morning in the best way possible ☀️
Ultimately, mornings are the essential building blocks to the mindsets we construct throughout our day 💡
Mornings become afternoons, afternoons become evenings 🌙
Therefore, they're more like the kickstart to our entire life 🦵🏼
Find what works for your mornings & stick to it 🌞
Can't figure it out? It'll come to you 😎
Until then, Bon Voyage! Thanks for reading along 🙂
Keep track of your rough draft(s) 😊
And above all, be kind (to others and yourself!) 💕
"What if kindness were our currency? 💰
... life can throw you some of the highest highs and lowest lows within a matter of months, weeks, or days.
...life holds a distinctly melancholy role of controlling the tempo & tone of how we tend to carry ourselves, with the ability to surprise you with effortless smiles at any given second 😌
How do you want your story to end? 🤔
After all, it’s not a final draft until it’s over" ✨
Everyone's rough draft is messy 💡
That's what makes life beautiful 💖
We're all just trying our best 😌
But until next time...
I'll be posting again real soon 😊
❤️ 🧡 💙 💚 💜
❤️ 🧡 💙 💚 💜
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