I’ve been struggling. Have you also been struggling lately? Wondering where you should take your career this year? Or if you’re a business owner, where you should take your company this year? Where you should take your relationships this year? Your marriage? Your finances? Your faith?
Well, I’ve been struggling in all of those areas. It’s a common thing to struggle from time to time. We have a tendency to throw a pity party when we’re struggling. No one understands the pain we’re going through. No one listens. No one wants to hear our sorrows. But what if we embraced our struggles? What if you thought your struggles were a wake-up call. What if you recognized that the Universe is nudging you to make a change? What would your life look like then?
Well, I’ve been where you’ve been this past year. And I have to say it wasn’t a pretty sight. But we’re going into a new year. A new year of hope. A new year of dreams. A new year of faith. A new year of prosperity.
I’m glad I listened to my struggles. They’ve communicated much to me about myself, what I’m dissatisfied with in my life, and where I want to be in the future. And I have to admit it wasn’t a pleasant journey. But I’m sure glad I took this journey of discovery. Rather than blaming the circumstances or the people around me, I took full responsibility for where I am in my life. I can’t blame the economy, my clients, the industry, or my spouse for my disaffected feelings about life. The introspection process was brutal but I’m glad I did it.
I think we all want peace, joy, prosperity, and happiness in our lives and we want it continually. But the Creator of our universe wants us to learn life lessons. And how do we learn those lessons except by experiencing negative consequences for our lame decisions? Not to say we made a “bad” decision, but that the decisions we make don’t always equate to the outcomes we want or expect. And maybe we didn’t realize that the outcome we got really was the outcome we expected and wanted due to our feelings of unworthiness, low self-esteem, or inadequacy.
We’re at the start of a new year and a new you. Rather than make resolutions, set goals, or committing to a program that you’ll never finish, why not try getting alone with yourself and truly taking an inventory of your life: where you’ve come from, where you are now, and where you want to be. Then assess the traits you possess that can get you to that future life. And look at the traits that you need to leave behind. I’m a proponent that most traits we possess can have good intentions but we must use them wisely. A trait can be a treasure or it can be a foible depending on how you use it and under what circumstances you use it. For example, you may be angry at someone or something that happened to you. Anger, in and of itself, is not a bad trait. We need it at times for self-preservation. However, if you punch someone’s lights out in anger you are using the anger in a detrimental way. But, what if you channeled that anger by volunteering your time and energy for a cause to help change the situation that caused you to be angry in the first place? Now that would be a positive way to embrace that trait.
I hope you get my drift. 2019 can be your wake-up call if you let it. Here’s to a prosperous, joyous, and healthy new year and new you.
