Are You Moving in the Right Direction?

It made me think this week a lot about where I am in life.  

There is much that I love about my life. There are things about it that I don’t like though too. But I can honestly say that I am on a path to change everything that I am unhappy about. I am not waiting for life to magically change. With God’s help, I am moving in the direction of my dreams.

And even though this requires sacrifice, at the end of the day I can rest easy because I know that it will all be worth it.

Do you assume your dreams will come true on their own?

I was watching “Despicable Me” with my family the other day.  The first scene is in Egypt at the pyramids.  I thought to myself, “I can’t wait to see that someday.” I have always assumed that someday I will see all the amazing things in the world that I want to see.  

Do you do that too? Do you just assume that someday you will have the time and money to do what you want to do?

I am always wishing that we had the ability to travel.  Instead of allowing that desire to become a distant dream, we are making sacrifices with money now, so that we will have the time and money to do it later.

The timing is good for us to make this work. My kids are so young that they don’t notice that our family days are spent on mostly free activities like going to the park. They won’t care that this year we are cutting costs by spending our vacation at a beach and staying with friends.

But because we are working hard this year and spending less money, we won’t have to work as hard later and our money will be freed up in the next 1-2 years.

When I talk about sacrifice for us it means spending less money, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy ourselves, we find ways to have fun for less.  

The point is, that we are on a path to change what we don’t like about our lives. AND we are enjoying ourselves along the way.

You can’t just assume that the future is going to be what you want it to be. You have to create it. Don’t assume that you’re going to have money when you retire unless you are actively setting it up so that you will. Don’t assume that 10 years from now your life will be different unless you are taking the steps to make it different. You need to save money for your future retirement and also include your retirement home.

Overcoming Victim Mentality

Too often, people make themselves victims of circumstance,  they act as if they have no say in what becomes of their future. If you are at a job you dislike (studies show that 80% of Americans are), then what are you doing to change it?  

If you want more time with family, what actions are you taking to make that happen?  Do you wish you could be debt-free yet you are doing nothing about changing your spending habits?  

In other words, are you complaining about something and doing nothing to change it?  Take your power back and start taking steps to change what you need to change.

A common cause of feeling like a “victim” is that we assume that our future will be a certain way because our past has told us that.  Have you heard, “The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior?”  It might be true, but it doesn’t have to be.

A great example is when people start a new weight loss program.  You hear people say all the time that they’ve “tried everything” and it’s no use.  They think that because they have failed in the past that they are destined to fail in the future.  

If that were true, however, no one would ever succeed because everyone fails at some point!  Some manage to overcome the failure and grow from it.  You can too.  

You have to commit to your goals and then identify obstacles and how to overcome them.  But don’t let your past be the indicator of what you can do.  Instead, see your past mistakes and failures as a learning experience and use it to discover what you need to change to succeed this time around.

Little changes every day can become big changes over time!

Another Year Has Passed

This year I turned 27.  I wonder how different my life will be 28?  It’ll be fun to look back at this and reflect again.  I expect that it will only be wonderful by then because I am choosing to make it so.

You have the power to change the direction of your life at any time. You make decisions every day that shape your reality. If you aren’t happy with where you are, it’s time to change something.

Come up with an action plan. Determine the first step and take it ASAP. Believe in your ability to change your life. You aren’t in control of everything, but you are in control of your attitude and perspective.

You may not be able to change your life overnight, but you can change your direction right now. Whatever you do, don’t choose to see yourself as a victim. Choose to see yourself as powerful, fierce, and unstoppable—because you ARE.