Something occurred to me completely out of the blue and it surprised me to realize I had never thought about it this way before. I may be the first person to ever tell you this, or I may be the last person to figure it out.
How many times have you set out to create change in your life by adopting a new habit and though you got started, you soon found yourself shifting back to the old status quo? Have you ever made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight or get your spending in line with your income, only to find yourself back where you started? Ever wonder why we find change to be such a challenge?
Say, for example, you set out to lose some weight. You start eating better, healthier food, and start an exercise routine. Along the way you lose a few pounds and are thrilled. Then you have a day or two of poor choices and quit because you gained a few pounds. You miss your exercise for a day or two and pretty soon find it all too easy to miss more days. Or, maybe you bought something outside of the budget you set for yourself. You wake up one day, realize what you have done and decide you have failed. You go back to your old habits because, clearly, you can’t do it. Sound familiar?
It is as if we believe we only get one chance to create whatever change we want to make, so when we stray from the path we have chosen, we’re done. Like when you go to the midway and play the game where you throw the balls into the basket. You get one chance to throw each ball and once they are thrown, the game is over. You have either won, or you haven’t. Instead, I am choosing to look at it another way. I am an artist creating a pencil drawing. If I put a line somewhere I don’t like, I erase it and continue on with my drawing. There are endless second chances.
Any change you make will require being committed to it. Also required is remembering in the moment you are making different choices; and continuing to make those different choices even if you don’t want to. It isn’t always easy but you always, always, always have a second chance.
As we move forward into this New Year, decide what you would like to see different in your life. Most people have a victory in their life they have not yet realized. Believe you can do it and choose not to dwell on the times you make a mistake. Let your mistakes go and realize in that moment your preferred path is still stretching out ahead of you complete with all of your new, improved choices. In your present heart you know you can do it. Receiving victory isn’t about being perfect along the way, it’s about doing your best as you move ever closer to what you have committed to do.
