I was talking with a friend the other day and we were discussing enjoying the journey. When someone starts working with me they do so because they want to change something about their lives. There are many different things I work with my clients on, but the majority boils down to these main things. 

Who Am I?

Do you know who you are? Can you list the things you want out of life? When learning who you are, the exciting part is that you can become her. You get to choose to always be growing and evolving. You have the power within yourself to become the person you have always wanted to be. 

Take Responsibility 

You then get to take full responsibility for your life. All parts. Even the parts about yourself that you don’t like or are in denial about. This is the scary part. This is the hard part. This is the part of the journey where you transition from living on autopilot to living consciously. This process took me about six months and it felt like I was wading knee deep in a swamp. I was too far in to turn around, but I couldn’t see the end or where I was going. I had to learn how to let go of the constant control I was trying to hold onto. 

Feel Your Feelings

I had to make mistakes, negativity, and feeling bad, okay. I started to give myself permission to be a human. I started to learn about my feelings and how they are driving all of my actions. When I allowed myself the whole human experience of emotions, I was able to take the self-judgment out of the equation. Instead of getting stuck in emotions for weeks or months at a time, I was able to feel through them in real time. 

Start Taking Inspired Action

This is the fun part, this is where you start seeing results. This is the work you do everyday to accomplish your dreams. Sometimes we don’t feel like it (see the above point) but we know that it will make us feel better in the long term. 

Learning how you are motivated and how you like to work on your goals is important during this step. I am a project-based person. I like to hyperfocus on one aspect until it is completed, and then I move on to another. This makes consistency hard for me. So I am always working on my mindset around consistency and learning where the joy is in the process. Here is a quick journaling exercise to help you find your joy!

• When I decide to take action on my goals, when am I normally excited about it?
• What action steps do I normally procrastinate on? 
• What action steps do I gravitate to? 
  
• How do I like to set up my schedule? 
• Am I setting myself up to fail with scheduling too much at once? If so, how can I give myself permission to take on less? 

Enjoying The Journey 

Most people feel like personal development is a start to finish process. If I start this today then when can I expect to be finished? What is the end date? I am here to tell you there is no end date, because you will start to change. You will welcome in new daily practices that help you continue to grow. It no longer becomes about the destination it becomes about the journey. 

When you accept the journey as your new reality you are able to start enjoying the process. You are able to accept the unknown, and progress everyday to your goals.