Changing Your Mindset

“If you continue to make excuses for why you are not doing something you should be, you will never change.”

I want to make a change for the better.  I no longer wish to live a life of stagnation and frustration. As I write this I am beginning to realize that to move beyond that life, it is not about changing things, it is about changing mindset.

When I started out this year, I set forth a few goals that I wanted to attain; Weight loss and financial peace.  I am taking part in things that help me to reach these goals.  This is good, but I am beginning to realize that until I change my thought patterns I will never be successful in either of those two things. In fact I will not be successful in anything. 

I have this thing for watching weight loss shows, “Biggest Loser” and “Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss edition” are the two that I am in to right now. As I was watching Extreme Makeover today, I heard one of the participants say that unless you stop making excuses, nothing is going to change… This was a man who at the beginning of his one year weight loss journey weighed 650 pounds, and at the end of his journey had lost over 300 pounds.  If this man, who could barely walk down the street, could lose weight, then what is my excuse?  No, having a toddler who takes up a lot of my time is not good; I just chose to let that stop me from finding a way to exercise.  I am choosing to make bad decisions, and making silly excuses to back up my bad decisions.

So… I may have a long to do list of areas I want to change (finance, weight, household organization, etc) but if I change one thing… if I change my mindset, it will make all of that easier.  I am by no means saying that is will be easy, but if I remove the barrier of mindset from the equation, I have cleared one of the biggest hurdles that often gets peoples way.  If I say that I can’t do it (when in fact I am really choosing not to do it) then I am creating a false barrier… change the mindset to ‘I can do it but am choosing not to’, it is a lot easier to change it to ‘I can do it and I choose to do it.’

 

Fearless

I have spent most of my life being overwhelmed by the magnitude of it.  There is so much to do to be in life, that I sometimes have the urge to just sit down and do nothing. It almost seems counterintuitive to just sit there when you have so many options, but it happens.  If there is a small obstacle in my way I tend to allow it to grow to the point where in my mind it becomes an immovable mountain.

I am at a stage in my life where I feel isolated.  I am a mom of a three year old, which greatly limits my alone time. I stay home, but am having pressure from my husband to find a job, which greatly limits my sense of freedom. How do I overcome these things that hold me back?  Just because I am a mom of a three year old does not mean I can’t take the few moments I have to sit down and put pen to paper and pursue my writing dreams, nor does the fact that I have to find a job (in order to get out of debt) keep me from eventually fulfilling my dream of working from home at a business I create myself.

Life is full of paths of which we can choose.  Sitting down in one spot because there are so many should not be an option.  At some points, you may want to do something, but the path is not right in front of you, wait, you will eventually get there.  In the mean time, look at what is there before you, and embrace it.

I was reading an article in Weight Watchers “Break New Ground” and it inspired me. Maybe right now is not the time for me to pick up my painting, but nothing is stopping me from writing. The article talked about stepping out of your comfort zone, getting up and doing something. This directly spoke to me, the person sitting down in the road because she doesn’t know which path to take.  Maybe the first path I choose will not go where I want it to, maybe I will stumble down the path, but at least I am moving, at least I am stepping out into the open regardless of the fear, which is a natural part of life.  What if I don’t succeed?  My response back to myself is, what if I do?