I Should. I REALLY Should.

During many years of work with people, one of the most common messages I heard was “I know I should ___ “.

You can certainly fill in your own blank in that sentence “…eat better, exercise more, manage stress, make more time for myself, work less, live more, on and on”. The list can continue on.

The biggest challenge is not that you do not know as to what is healthy, what is helpful, what makes you happy, or what makes you grow. It is that you are not doing it. When you are not doing it, you feel stuck and that feeling grows exponentially with time. It actually gets bigger and bigger, and it leads to a generalized overwhelm.

You become more and more frustrated, unhappy, unhealthy, your relationships are impacted. You feel as though you never have any time for yourself, your family, friends, on and on. You start to blame the pressures and responsibilities of your present life, work, family, and generalized feeling of having a “busy life”. Sound familiar? How did you get here?

This phenomenon is not unique to you. It is possible that you observed, or heard about a similar experience of your parents, grandparents, other family, friends, and others.

Imagine a moment in your life where you felt “free, uplifted, energized, light on your feet, full of life…”

Close your eyes.

What do you see? What do you feel?

It may actually take you more than a moment to access that feeling.

Do ponder this very idea of what your experience may have been at that time in your life. What happened to it? How many layers have you added to your experience to lose that feeling?

Remember that if you can simply access that feeling, then you must recognize that it is still in you…and…a way to get it back is to take actionable steps to cultivate it. Steps that help you get out of your ‘should’ and into your ‘must’.

The single most important force that drives you is having the sheer desire. If you really want to feel energized and alive, and experience your own personal greatness, all it takes is a single step.

If you want more energy, better mood, more physical stamina and fitness, if you want improved relationships…then take your very first step. Simple? Yes, it is that simple.

We have ideas, we daydream, and nothing happens. Ideas are only ideas without action. If you only ‘wish for something’ different than it ends up being wasted energy.

You must want it enough first!

When you take a single step, you take action.

Even if your step is simply a conscious acknowledgement that something must change, and you want it so much, that you can see it, feel it, and almost experience it. In that moment, that force is strong enough.

What is your own resistance?

One small step, each and every day. Imagine yourself in one year. Otherwise, you will persistently wish you had started one year ago today.

What is that one small thing you can start today? How about a pause long enough to contemplate this very question for yourself.