Take A Stand For Your Life
Remember when you were a child and the first thing adult relatives noticed and remarked on was how much you had grown since the last time they saw you?
The question I want to ask you today doesn’t have anything to do with your height or weight or you outgrowing your clothes.
The question is: Have you outgrown your life? Are you feeling crowded and irritated for no apparent reason? Maybe your life is too small. Have you become so predictable that your friends can carry on a complete conversation with you without you being present since everyone already knows what you would say?
Are you lacking enthusiasm, have low energy and barely have a pulse? Perhaps your vision for yourself is too small. Do you drag yourself through your days bored to tears but secretly hoping someone else will make your life more exciting? Maybe your goals and expectations for yourself are too limited.
Do you habitually criticize yourself and carry on a negative internal dialogue about your faults and weaknesses? It could be that your self image needs revamping.
How about a makeover to update your life and add more color, variety, style, and zest to your emotional wardrobe?
Have you allowed someone else to pick out your life for you? Are you dressed up in a lifestyle that is not really to your taste? Have you been wearing hand-me-downs? Are you acting on worn out concepts and beliefs that have been passed down in your family for generations? Are you following rules and regulations that are old, tired and worn out?
Are you waiting for “some-a-day” to come? Some day when you will magically make big life changes?
Approach life changes realistically. Imagine that you’ve decided to make major changes in your actual wardrobe. Could you afford or would you even want to get rid of everything in your closet all at once and then take on the job of replacing everything? Most of us would answer in the negative. Massive change would require too much letting go.
It is the same with our lives. Change works best when it is executed in small, thoughtful increments.
Take an inventory of your life. Are you stuck in a rut? Are you wearing the same old life experiences every day? Have you become a victim of life? Are you wearing one uniform and playing only one role to the exclusion of everything else?
Do your habits, behaviors and activities enhance your life or do they drain away your zest for living? Are you an energy gain or an energy drain? Do you contribute to and enhance the lives around you or do you drain the life force out of your friends and family?
If you find your answers to these questions less than appealing, take heart. Instead of feeling victimized by your life, take a stand.
It is our birthright and responsibility to make choices in our lives. We are seldom really victims of life. Usually we are, more than likely, volunteers. Stop volunteering to continue a life of playing small. Pinpoint one change you would like to make and do it.
Let yourself change at your own pace and before you know it you will be creating your life more to your present tastes and liking.
In fact, with a little effort you could be downright stylin’.
Susan is a local author and leadership development facilitator. Email her at susanvelasquez.com.
