It’s funny how you can fantasize and romanticize for so long about something you want to do or about someone you want to be, but for whatever reason, it feels impossible to just pull the trigger. One day you start to feel super inspired and you dive in, but to your dismay, within a week, you’re back at square one, or so it seems. You stay in this never-ending cycle of wanting something so badly, starting to work toward it when inspiration strikes, then inevitably witnessing it fall to the wayside as inspiration subsides, life creeps in, doubt creeps in, or my personal favorite- just plain old laziness overtakes you. It’s so easy to just stay stuck doing what you do, whatever it is that you do. Everyone has their own habits and cycles that have just kind of naturally fallen into place. Familiarity is so so comfortable, and our minds and bodies crave that comfort and want to fight against anything going against the habits already set in place. We don’t like change. Now, you may want change or crave change, but when it comes down to it, change is hard and your brain knows it. It’s so much easier on our brains to just be on cruise control and not have to cater to changes, so how do we break out of this cycle of wanting to do better, wanting to be better, wanting to make big changes? Unfortunately, there’s really no simple answer to that question. Sometimes when I am wanting to feel inspired I’ll click into Pinterest where I typically see a handful of ~inspirational messages or old tumblr quotes just waiting for me to soak in their wisdom. Messages like, “The cost of procrastination is the life you could have lived..” Wow. That felt like a slap in the face. Sometimes that helps me to at least want to pull it together a little bit, but not really effective to the point that it gets me up and going. How about all of the pieces of insight that have to deal with “Start now and in 30 days blah blah blah,” or “Be firm about your choices now,” or one of my personal favorites- “Finish something. Anything.” It seems so simple, just start, right? We should all be tuning into Nike’s advice more and then we’d be super successful and happy, but it feels like sometimes just doing it is so much harder than it seems. It’s as though there’s an art to starting.
Now. I’m no expert when it comes to forming habits. I read Atomic Habits by James Clear, and it definitely has a lot of insight when it comes to habit formation and how we can form and break habits. I’m sure there are a plethora of self-help books out there that will tell you a million different ways you can create healthy habits in order to achieve your desired outcome or to become who you want to be, but what happens when you put the book down, and you want to instate all of these newly learned skills into your daily life and it just all feels too hard, too big, too much to handle. I’ve been here more times than I’d like to admit and for longer than I’d like to admit. I’ve learned all I need to start, I’ve talked about starting, I’ve written up a game plan, so why does it still feel impossible to do what it is that I want so badly to do. I’ve come to a few conclusions. One- the timing has to be right. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is never going to be a perfect time to make a change or to start something new because you can always find a reason or even an excuse, dare I say, as to why now is not the right time, but I think there is something to be said about the old adage- to everything there is a season. King Solomon might have been on to something with this one. I truly believe that in different seasons of our lives we are meant to be starting different projects, making different changes, becoming different people. Perhaps this desire that you’ve felt to make a change is something that just has to gnaw away at you until the time is right, and by doing this, it creates a sense of urgency, a sense of importance, a driving force that you need to push you forward and give you direction for your future even if the time to execute this change is not now. I think knowing when to start plays one of the most essential roles in learning the art of starting, but maybe you might say, I know the time is now, I’ve felt this burning inside of me for too long now- it has to be now or never. Don’t wait for motivation. Don’t wait for inspiration. Don’t wait until your fear has subsided. This is my second bit of advice. When the time is right, you have to simply start doing something. Inaction is not an option, and if it’s motivation you’re waiting on, honestly, that may not show up until you get the ball rolling and see yourself moving in the direction you want to go, so don’t wait on motivation; tap into that deep driving force that has built up inside of you as you’ve waited. As for those fears and doubts being whispered in your ear or that you may even be whispering into your own ear- those aren’t going to ever go away. Fear of failure is normal and everyone experiences it, especially when we are crossing over into the unknown, but be reassured that we aren’t called to be perfect, we’re called to be obedient. Whatever it is that has been laid on your heart, take action, take a step forward, make a move, make a change, start.
Take care and be blessed.