Waiting for the Right Time?
I had a coach who repeated a refrain that has stuck with me since I was 12: “quitting during training only makes it easier to quit when it counts. All you’re doing is practicing quitting when things get hard.”
I’m not sure I got the depth of that message when I was 12, but it’s been reinforced countless times in the 17-plus years since.
Quitting during training only makes it easier to quit when it counts.
Waiting to get started on our goals until "the right time" only makes us better at waiting.
Putting ourselves last on our to-do lists only makes us better at neglecting ourselves.
We are worthy of every ounce of growth, every minute of love, and every drop of joy that comes our way. We don’t have to engage in self-care only to be able to care for others better (although that’s a nice refrain); we can engage in self-care, because we’re full, sparkly, mystical people worthy of being cared for.
Without tuning in, learning who we are, and what we need on a day-to-day basis, we never realize our magic in full.
Passing ourselves over during the times it seems inconsequential to choose ourselves – when we choose to bump our yoga practice to have drinks with the coworkers we feel obligated to indulge, when we say yes to an optional work event when we’d rather take a bubble bath and read a book, when we take on the responsibility of dinner when we’re at our wits’ end – only makes it easier to pass ourselves over during the times we’re burning the candle at both ends. We get better and better at ignoring our inner cries for attention, until we’re burnt out with nothing left.
We have big lives to create, magical mountains to conquer, messages to spread that are ours alone that the world needs. We can build a body, a relationship, an entire life exactly as we want it; we have all the power in the world.
But are we practicing tending that fire and letting it emit a steady burn? Or are we practicing putting it out?
