Hey there, welcome to Monday’s post. While I don’t plan on doing this often, we’re continuing the point from the last post on Saturday – Be Yourself: Acceptance. The overall idea is that you should always be yourself. No matter what you feel is against you, being who you really are is one of the most important things for you to do in order to keep yourself happy with yourself. Please see the previous post if you haven’t already. Feel free to share both of these as well!
Knowing When It’s Time
“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure. ”
~Oprah Winfrey~
Thanks to Oprah for the quote, very smart lady she is. My philosophy on pretty much all life matters is fairly simple. Life is too short to waste time being someone you’re not. This applies to everything for me, and while I suggest this for everyone I’m aware that not everyone is prepared to do that. I’ve had plenty of rough patches in my life, to the point where I can fully understand that misery is comfortable. It’s hard to want to change once you’ve been in a bad place for so long. But it’s still something that you’ve gotta do. You can’t avoid that eventually you need to dig yourself out of the muck and see what the world has to offer. Change is new, change is unknown, change can be very scary. Knowing all of this is part of knowing when it’s time to change.
Knowing when it’s time. That being the whole reason for this post. How do you know when it’s time? What do you do when that time comes? You know it’s time when you look at this page. When you begin to wonder what you’re doing in your life. You know it’s time when you’re able to step outside of the box you’ve been trapped in.
There are millions of ways to help yourself be better, but they all need to start with the same foundation. You’ll never be able to live happily, you’ll never be able to do anything you want in life unless you are, in the purest sense of the word, yourself.
That’s not to say that you can’t accomplish certain things when you are posing as another person. I’m sure you can. Anyone anywhere in the world can find successes if they look hard enough. But there is a key thing to note in a situation like this; you have to look for your successes. When you are being who you are, doing what wish to be doing, being who you wish to be with – when you live your life as you – you do not need to look for success. You are success.
At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.
~Lao Tzu~
There is, as always, a decent amount of explanation needed with all things to do with helping yourself. Before you can truly begin to change or “heal” yourself, you must always understand from where the problem originates. So, while it is in theory very simple to know when it is time to leave the shell that you’ve been allowing others to control, it’s not always as simple as it sounds. You know it’s time once you’ve made the conscious thought recognizing that you are not being the person that you know you are at your core. Below are a few instances that would highlight that you’re ready to leave behind someone else’s shadow and be your own person.
- When your actions conflict with your thoughts
- When you experience “Same Motions” boredom (If you’re being who you are and doing what you love, this won’t happen)
- When you find yourself getting irritated with yourself
- When you feel shame for who you see yourself as
- When you’re not inspired to do anything in your life
If you ever have any of these thoughts, it’s time. There will of course be infinitely more, it’s up to you to recognize the difference of your situation to the general situations that I’m able to give here. Don’t let yourself stay trapped just because you don’t see your specific situation listed as an example. Stop for a moment and examine yourself. Are you who you want to be? Do you decide what you do in your life, or do you allow someone else to dictate what you do?
Yeah, there are some good reasons for me to move forward but…
- “People won’t like me if I’m different.”
- “I can’t afford the risk. Life isn’t good, but I can handle it.”
- “My Significant Other won’t think of me the same.”
- “Well, people don’t influence me that much…”
- “I’m usually myself, I have to be someone else to get places.”
- “Being like this is better than myself.”
These are EXCUSES, not reasons. Do not confuse them.
If a person is upset enough, their mind will turn on them in vicious ways to keep them down. You can be your own worst enemy if you make a point to be a strong person. You must have the courage to be yourself. When you can dismiss your own excuses for why you shouldn’t, that is when it’s time. Clear the obstacles that you create and you will be able to move forward.
When you’re able to put everything together – when you don’t have excuses, when you see that you’re not behaving like you feel you should, when you start to really think about where you are in life and how you’re not happy there – these are all very good signs that you are ready. You will always be your biggest opposition to self improvement. Overcome yourself and everything that comes after will be much easier.
Let me know what you do to recognize when you’re ready to truly be yourself and how you accept yourself. I’d love to hear from you and see what your friends feel about these posts. Share and share alike!
Be kind, do something nice for a stranger today.
complicatedmadesimple 