December was a tough month for me, personally.
And these first few days of January haven’t been much easier. My health has been in a rough spot, which has left my mind and body tired. I’ve been worn down, finding it difficult to be very inspired or motivated.
This is not exactly a mindset that helps ring in the new year with gusto. I’m not quite in the place where I’m inspired to make resolutions of the “New Year, New You” variety.
Quite frankly, those kind of resolutions sound pretty exhausting right now.
Instead of feeling energized and ready to tackle a whole new year (let alone a whole new day), I feel a bit trampled on, and a bit lost.
Yesterday, though, in the midst of an especially strong trampled on/worn down moment, I suddenly saw things with such clarity: I don't need to make a grand resolution. I don’t need to tackle everything, and it’s ok if things need to move a bit slower for me right now. All that is important is that I a) take care of myself, and b) keep taking very small, very simple steps forward.
I am a health and wellness coach. I should know these things. But even when we ourselves are experts in an area, we often forget to apply the knowledge we have to our own lives.
My entire coaching philosophy is rooted quite firmly in this simple (yet clearly oh-so-elusive) idea. It’s what I hope to inspire my clients to understand each and every single day: we need not tackle the world and change everything overnight. But we do need to keep moving forward, bit by bit, towards our goals.
“We need not tackle the world and change everything overnight. But we do need to keep moving forward, bit by bit, towards our goals.”
And so, I am reminding myself today that even if my steps are shorter right now – more like a slow shuffling of the feet, rather than walking – that is ok. At some points in our lives, we effortlessly run like the wind, making huge progress with each leap and bound. At others, we drag our feet, each step feeling harder than the last. We sometimes need to slow down our pace to leave space for rest, so that we can, at some point soon, get back on the trail with full gusto.
For me, right now, I’m shuffling my feet. But the important thing is that I keep shuffling forward, even if the distance I travel with each step is so small it’s almost imperceptible.
Because I know that even if it seems imperceptible, it’s not. It’s making a difference. Each baby step is proof to myself that I am making a choice to walk towards the life that I want, and towards the person that I want to be.
And so, today I choose to walk towards joy.
What kind of step (or leap, or shuffle) are you taking today?
With joy,
Chelsea