Friend, the first time I climbed a mountain, I didn’t fully know if I was going to make it. It was so BIG. A few of the people I was with, had climbed the mountain before. And as we got ready to go, they talked about how there were some really challenging spots on the way to the top. I remember listening to them and wondering,
What would I do, if I couldn’t make it?
I wasn’t an experienced hiker. In fact, I had only recently begun to regularly go on hikes where I lived. My adventurous side had agreed to go on the trip without even realizing how nervous I’d be when the day to hike the mountain finally came.
Doing big things is scary.
Often, it is overwhelming. So much so that there are many possibilities we don’t even consider doing because they are so daunting. But then, there are those hard things we all secretly—or not so secretly—want to do in our lives. Those metaphorical mountains that we try to take on, usually around this time of the year. Perhaps we want to get in better shape, lose weight, finally start a side hustle, make a job or life change, or become a better writer, musician, artist, etc.
There are many possibilities we don’t even consider doing because they are so daunting. But then, there are those hard things we all secretly—or not so secretly—want to do in our lives.
Traditionally, as a culture, we’ve tried to tackle these mountains through setting resolutions at the beginning of January. Though, if you’re a millennial like me, you grew up a little jaded about the whole resolution thing. That is why today, I want to encourage you not to set a resolution. In fact, even if you haven’t set one but you are already going hard at your mountain—I want to encourage you to take a step back. And I want to ask,
Have you set a plan for what you want to do?
Have you prepared yourself for the life changes you’re going to have to make to reach the top of your mountain?
Have you clearly defined what your mountain top even looks like? (aka what success means to you?)
If not, don’t give up. Just give yourself some time to plan and prepare. In fact, try to see the planning and preparation as a part of your journey. The less of these two things that we do, the greater the chance we will give up. We will get to the very place we need to push harder, and instead, we’ll stop. Then, feeling like failures, we will begin to believe we aren’t capable of doing the very things we’ve been made to do.
2020 is 365 days of opportunity to make the changes that we want.
Friend, 2020 is 365 days of opportunity to make the changes that we want. To climb the mountains we’ve been wanting to scale. But the only way we are going to reach our peaks, is through taking the time now to set ourselves up to succeed.
If you want this to be the year you scale even one of your mountains, take the time to plan and prepare. And don’t forget to pick up your free Start Here: Dream Planner. It is a powerful tool to help you lay out where you’ve been, where you want to be, and what you need to do to climb your mountain.
Friend, what is the mountain you are longing to climb?
What has been holding you back from formulating a plan to get you to the top?
Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash
