“Welp, I’m Back on My Bullsh*t…”
I feel like something was in the air this week??!! Everyone I talked to expressed some form of discouragement that sounded like: “Welp, I’m back on my bullshit.”
Maybe it’s the chill (freeze!) in the air here on the East Coast.
Maybe the cheer of the holidays and optimism of the new year have worn off.
Maybe we’ve just gone back to “normal”… normal schedules, normal obstacles, normal patterns, normal habits, normal stories, normal selves.
But something else was in the air too…
Everyone expressing this frustration and discouragement also ended up expressing a CLEAR picture of what, specifically, that bullshit actually is!…! How fascinating!?
When we’re living our normal lives, we barely notice our “normal.” But when we have disruptions like holiday breaks, we come back with fresh eyes — fresh eyes to set new goals, yes, but also fresh eyes to see our “normal” lives, habits, and patterns as they really are:
-omg THAT’S how busy I am?
-omg THAT’S how I talk to myself when I don’t get a callback?
-omg THAT’S why I keep skipping workouts?
-omg THAT’S what I do when I’m afraid I won’t hit the high note?
Friends…THIS IS A GOOD THING!!!
Realizations like this can help reveal where your attention actually needs to go!
An example from my own life: I bought a “Brick” to finally help kick my morning doom scroll habits. It’s working because I have Insta and TikTok locked in the mornings. But I can still feel the need to scroll. That is frustrating, icky!! But because I’m aware, I can pause, go deeper, and ask questions: What do I get out of scrolling? What does scrolling help me avoid? What do I actually need in the morning instead?
I don’t have the answers yet, but noticing and getting curious (which I have to remind myself) is a VERY important part of any behavior change.
We always think of progress as “doing,” “checking off,” and “forward movement!” “Onward forever!” But failing to do those things sometimes is…inevitable!… and essential!
I told a few voice students this week, “bad” sounds are nothing to be afraid of IF we allow “bad” to guide us to “better.” If we retreat from “bad sounds” (or the failures) altogether, we are SLOWING our progress and missing out on really juicy opportunities.
We cannot change if we don’t have a crystal clear picture of WHAT we’re trying to change
…and there’s often a sneaky habit behind that habit, isn’t there?
(Ex: We don’t have a habit of practicing…because we DO have a habit of overbooking our calendar!)
This week, can we be like Steve from Blue’s Clues??
If/When discouragement shows up, can we get playfully curious and say “AH! A Clue!”
And learn a bit more about what we’re really dealing with so we can deal with intention and care!
Take heart, my friends!
Did this resonate with you? Let Me Know