OK, so you know that there is something about your life that you want to change.
Maybe you are struggling with the rampage of emotions after you've been told your spouse/partner wishes to end the relationship.
It could be that the grief you are feeling for someone who passed over, has taken a grip of your life and you are struggling to be free of it.
Possibly, you have been given a life altering diagnosis or you recognise that you are suffering with the symptoms of depression.
All these events have left you at a crossroads.
You can either continue on the path that you are on - or you make the decision to change something.
And this is what normally happens at this point.
OVERWHELM!!
I mean you are dealing with enough emotions at the moment, putting something else on your plate is likely to tip you over the edge.
And I'm here to reassure you that it doesn't have to be that way. It's all a matter of being realistic about what you can take on, and actually...contrary to the popular myth that the more you have on your plate, the stronger, better, more of a super human you'll be. That's tosh and it's so 80s, so give that one up right now.
I recently decided to go over some of my journal entries from when I first realised I was struggling with they symptoms of depression. I wanted to remember what it was like being the 'me' then.
I thought about sharing one of my pages on here...I may do in another post....because all I could muster was the "F" word...over and over and over again....for 3 pages of A4 infact.
What I was really intrigued by was that I noticed the small, gentle progression of change. It wasn't me being in the rabbit hole one day and being happy and dancing around my living room the next. It was subtle.
And that's why I believe Small is Best when you are embarking on any major changes in your life. Because let's be honest, the event you are working through at the moment has won the prize for Overwhelming you, you don't need anything else to compete with it.
Here are some of my observations about the days when I first started to embark on my journey to create a different life. I noticed how I'd written in my journal about small achievements and observations on how I was handling things differently:
It might have been just getting out of bed every day for a week and getting dressed before midday.
I noticed how I set a goal to be mindful of how I was feeling and to change it if it wasn't making me feel good. Soon I was almost having a game with myself to see how often I'd spotted disempowering thoughts and this meant that I was in control of them.
I read journal entries about how I'd managed not to react straight away when someone upset me or said something that made me angry. I committed to wait at least 3 days to respond and often found that the response was SIGNIFICANTLY different to the response I would have fired off!
I wanted to share this with you, just to let you know that when you want a different life, or to feel differently, the best way to start is small. That way you'll be setting yourself up for success and you'll gain confidence that you can do this.
When you have a system in place, and the support to help you along, you'll notice you'll be in a different more empowering place in no time at all.
All you need to do, is keep it small, keep it relevant and keep it consistent.