Photo by Vicky Sim on Unsplash
I can do hard things!
Umm….excuse me….why would I want to?
That is a great question. Most everything we do or don’t do in life is because of the way we think it will make us feel. And the majority of us like to live in our emotional comfort zone. Even if that comfort zone doesn’t include the greatest feelings either. At least we are used to them.
I might want to try something new, but…
I’m WORRIED I might fail.
I’m SCARED I’ll look stupid trying.
I’m UNSURE about the first step.
I’m OVERWHELMED by all I’ll have to do.
The list goes on.
I’d rather stick with the emotions I’m familiar with.
I’m COMFORTABLE with my routine.
I’m SAFE doing the familiar.
I’m RESISTANT to change.
I’m too TIRED.
We are used to feeling TIRED, RESISTANT, and SAFE, so we’d rather just keep those emotions than feel SCARED, UNSURE, or OVERWHELMED. At least until the compulsion to do the hard thing outweighs the compulsion to stay in the comfort zone.
Have you ever wanted to TESTIFY or WITNESS of something, but your FEAR keeps you planted in your seat. But your desire to share is greater so you press through the fear and LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD.
If we want to do HARD THINGS, then we are going to need to be willing to feel some uncomfortable emotions. We can keep living in our comfort zone or we can allow all the emotions and watch ourselves grow.
You might be wondering now, “Why do I want/need to grow?” Because it’s FUN. We get to experience a whole new range of emotions besides the “scary” ones. We get to experience CONFIDENCE and EXCITEMENT and PERSEVERANCE and ACCOMPLISHMENT. And those feel pretty great.
As always, we get to choose. Stick with embarrassed, inadequate, and anxious OR go with uncomfortable, scared, and skeptical. The difference is that some uncomfortable emotions create amazing results while others keep us stuck.
Choose something hard that will get you the results. you want. Don’t choose any old hard thing. Make it something that aligns with your purpose. Something that will help you grow into the person you want to become. Once you learn how it feels to do something hard and create the desired result, there will be no stopping you.
