Imagine you're on an incredibly long journey. One that involves several days of travel.
Maybe it's multiple plane trips with stopovers in between.
Maybe it's a bus ride across country.
Whichever it is, you're squashed into a small seat, with a kid kicking you in the back, and a baby crying up the front. And you're tired and uncomfortable and you just want to lie down!!!
You're beginning to think that you are never going to get there, and maybe are fantasising about getting off at the next stop, rather than continuing.
And then a weird thing happens…
As you look around the plane, or the bus, or the train, you realise that not everybody is feeling the same way that you are.
Some are engrossed in a movie. Some are reading. Some are staring out the window. And some are just sleeping.
It's as if everybody there is having a totally different journey.
The stories they will tell about this trip, will all differ.
They will all have struggled with different elements of it. They will all have enjoyed different parts.
Even though, at the end of the day, they will all have arrived at their chosen destination.
Your journey to success is exactly like this.
It's going to be hard. It's going to be uncomfortable.
And, at times, you are going to want to get off.
You will compare yourself to others, and listen to their ‘breakthrough' story, only to have total failure when you mimic what it was that they did.
You will be frustrated, and confused, and disillusioned, and you will go through Shiny Object Syndrome, and procrastination, and other forms of self-sabotage.
And here's the crazy thing about all of that…
IT IS ALL TOTALLY NECESSARY.
Annoying I know, but we have to go through the hard, shitty, frustrating, messy, tear-inducing, hair pulling, teeth gritting, experiences to finally be able to arrive at our destination.
If we didn't, we just would never get there.
We wouldn't ever become that person who made it.
The one who learned what they needed to know.
The one who never gave up.
It's not so much that we wouldn't have earned it, but that we just wouldn't arrive.
All those things you've done in your past that seemed to have been totally unnecessary, they were all actually stepping stones to get you to where you are now.
Sometimes it was through the knowledge you learned, and sometimes it was through someone you met on the way.
Often, it's more that by doing that thing you ended up in the right place at the right time for the next.
Everything that you will have done, every cent that you will have spent, will all have been responsible for your success.
If you try to break down exactly what it was that got you there in the end, you will find that, that one thing only worked because of everything else you had done before it.
And that, if that was all you had done, if you had done that at the start, it would not have worked, because it was never solely responsible for getting you the end result.
It's kind of like a treasure hunt…each clue leads to the next, and the next, and the next, until finally you get there. You can never just get that last clue. You always need the ones before.
So, what is the point of all of this?
Well, for starters, stop being so hard on yourself.
This was never going to be easy. You were never going to get it right the very first time, so stop beating yourself up about your current lack of success.
Relax into the process. Be curious rather than frustrated. And trust that the process is going to get you there in the end.
Have faith in yourself, and know that you are worth it.
You are not doomed to failure, and the universe is not blocking you…
You are just not there yet.
Stop analysing your progress on a day-to-day result. That only leads to an emotional rollercoaster which adds miles to your journey.
Don't be scared to spend money investing in yourself. You are never going to learn what you need to, by yourself.
Get a mentor. And then get another one. And another one.
Realise that you will have many of them throughout the journey.
But, most importantly, realise that your journey is your journey. It will be uniquely yours. Nobody else will ever have the same one that you do.
Be proud of yourself, and know, that if you keep going, you will get there.
In Your Corner
Donna Joy
