Hello Everyone! Are you feeling a little overwhelmed? Me too! Let's use our journaling time as our sanctuary to rest, recover and recuperate.
Last week, I launched my merch store, and I am finding myself feeling a bit overwhelmed. It seems like my to-do list is ever-growing with no end in sight, and my vision of where I want to be now does not match up with where I am. This afternoon, I uncovered more website tinkering I needed to do, but I decided to take a step back and write this blog. Why? Because I needed a little break to slow myself down and tell myself that it is OK not to get "there" so quickly. I may not set up everything I planned to set up in my timeline, and I have to accept that that's OK.
Starting anything new takes time. We will get lost, make a bunch of mistakes, and be clumsy handling things at first. And that's totally ok. Sometimes, we think we somehow expect ourselves to be an expert in things before we even start, be super efficient with our process, and get it done quickly without making mistakes. That's not how we learn. We learn through our mistakes and trying things that seem a lot bigger than us. That's how we grow and evolve. In this process, we also heal because we learn that things that used to scare us aren't so scary anymore.
So can we give ourselves much-needed space to explore where we are now? Can we allow ourselves to make mistakes, mess up a few things, and still smile and say "Good try!"? Can we look at them as a great opportunity for growth instead of liability? Can we just stop rushing and enjoy where we are?
Let's look at any "new" things you started lately. Think of you embarking on it like a little baby learning to walk. Let's change our perspective on our progress and see it from a more gentle, loving point of view.
And this leads to this week's journal topic:
What new path have you started? Write how your journey has been so far, including all your mistakes, frustrations, feelings of being lost and not knowing, and so on. After writing, see yourself as a baby learning to walk and read what you wrote. What kind of encouragement and loving words would you give to yourself? Write them down.
For example, my path of opening my online store was a lot harder, more tedious, laborious, and time-consuming than I thought. I am learning that a small mishap can easily lead to things not functioning or outright disaster, and I am frustrated that I don't know enough about the basic how-to's to make this process faster and easier. I feel like every new milestone brings 5 new tasks to do, so I am overwhelmed and feel inadequate at what I am trying to accomplish.
As I read this above paragraph as though I am just a baby learning how to walk, I would say things like this:
I am proud of you for trying something new, and something that you are totally ready and capable of. You might feel like you are about to conquer a mountain that is so much bigger than you, but you are bigger than that. Don't let that intimidate you. Your mistakes and frustrations will teach you how to do this better, more efficiently, and easier. And allow yourself to be totally ok not knowing everything about this. This is something new. Take your time and enjoy learning. Take one small step at a time. Do one small thing you can do at a time and you will get there.
Oftentimes, we forget to give ourselves encouraging words because we always expect them to come from outside. We seek outside validation and approval first before we give them to ourselves. What if we reverse the order? What if we come to a place where we can continue doing something totally authentic and epic regardless of anyone outside giving us any validation or approval? If you are following your passion, and listening to your heart, you owe it to yourself to be your biggest cheerleader and show up for yourself. Whatever new path you are embarking on, you got this. You can do it. Take it slow and enjoy your journey. Embrace your journey and appreciate the process. One day, your path will open to a much larger sea and you will know why you needed to take this journey.
If you want to delve deeper into the practice of stress release and living your life's purpose, listen to the following podcasts from Whispers of the Heart:
"Breathe Out Tiredness" from Whispers of the Heart SOS Micro Meditations
"Releasing Burdens" from Whispers of the Heart Sleep MeditationsÂ
"Discovering Your North Star: Unleashing Your Life's Purpose"- a 1-hour Dive Deeper Discussion
Happy journaling,
Noriko
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