Do The Work
Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash
Show up AND keep the faith.
Long before I decided I would create a blog, I thought regularly about sharing my story, but had never taken a single concrete step in that direction. With the guidance and insight of a coach, I sat and started to write my story in a cohesive fashion in 2019, hoping that along with that I would get some clarity about where this might go.
SITTING DOWN TO DO THE WORK was the hardest part of writing my story. There were MANY days that I did not feel like doing it. I sat in different parts of my house, tried different times of day and had a really hard time getting any sort of rhythm. Parts of the story were painful and brought up all sorts of feelings, other parts felt more inspired and were easier to write. But, I was full of excuses for and to myself...
Who cares? Why bother? I am not in the mood. These were all part of my thought rotation. Our negative thoughts are our worst enemies when we are working towards something important. Getting this writing done felt deeply personal and important to me even though I was not sure of the outcome. And the cost of not doing it would have been high - continuing to ruminate about it but not acting and therefore never seeing where it could have gone.
I believed in my heart that there was something for me to say that would resonate, and that helped to keep me going. I could see that my “voice” and story resonated with members with my work at WW. I believe that my story belies what you might assume about me if you don't know me well. I believe that by sharing our stories and being honest, we can encourage others to do the same. I believe that shame keeps us quiet, powerless and helpless around our challenges, and by bringing them into the light, we can change our lives.
There was this tremendous tension between WANTING to write the story and believing it would be good for me and for others, and actually DOING the work of writing the story.
What I can see now, and many of you have learned this for yourselves - is that sitting to do the work is THE WORK. It is great to have dreams, goals, and plans but if you do not put in the effort, they will remain out of your reach. And there will be many days where you just have to work and keep the faith, despite your uncertainty, lack of clarity or just plain frustration.
I have posted now for 25 weeks on this site. My story has resonated and I am slowly finding my way. Some weeks I have trouble sitting down to do the work but the outer accountability of an audience expecting content every Friday has helped with this. But, I regularly fight the perfectionist voice in me (she is so LOUD!) that I should do more, that it should be easier by now, that I should be on Phase 3 of whatever I am undertaking when I am barely on Phase 1.
This is a universal truth. We need to work for what we want even when the next step is not entirely clear, when results are slow, when we least feel like showing up for the work. The cost of not pursuing what is important to us (weight loss, relationship work, changing a bad habit, starting a new venture) is so high. Our negative thoughts combined with inertia are powerful (This is Too Hard). We must actively work against them and keep our faith that somehow it will become clear, or work out.
What is it you would like to work towards? If something feels important to you - believe it - don’t dismiss it. Sit (stand, plan, take an action, get started) and do the work. Make the effort on your own behalf.
