The Time is Going to Pass

It’s a thought I’ve been having repeatedly over the past few days. Whether I’m thinking short term, like riding the exercise bike for 45-minutes in this 75-Hard Challenge I’m doing, which pushes me to exercise twice a day. Or, even when I’m thinking long-term, like my goal to write and publish a new romance novel this year.

It’s the reason I can understand the sadness some people feel with the new year. It’s happened. The time has passed. A year has gone. And they still didn’t do whatever it was they resolved to do months earlier.

Growth is humbling. We’re not all who we imagined we would be. Our lives not quite the vision we had as teens, or tweens, or children. That’s difficult to sit in. To feel as though you are a disappointment.

But you’re wrong if you think that. I know it’s kinda rude to just flat out tell you you’re wrong. But you are. Because you’re not a finished project. You’re a work in progress. You can’t be graded, or labeled, yet.

It’s like I tell the women in my writing mentorship, when you’re writing a book don’t worry about critiquing it. Just give yourself enough clay that you will later mold in the editing process. 

If you’re not ready for change, you’re giving yourself the clay to later adjust and sculpt. If you are ready to change, you can now take the experiences and lessons you’ve learned to craft yourself into the person you want to be.

And what does that take? Often change, which usually requires time. It feels daunting at the beginning. Everything feels daunting at the beginning. Mountains appear largest from the base.

But the time is going to pass, regardless. Isn’t it a little eerie to think of it that way, you either die or face the fact that you did or did not do what you wanted?

Next new year can feel like the start of a loop that leads nowhere, or it can feel like an end and a beginning – a fresh start to go after something else.

If I can give you any advice, it is that your skills are transferrable. What you are good at, you stay good at even in another field. So, you are never starting from scratch. It’s new, but you’re not. You have useful skills and talents that will lend you favor in every direction.

I excel at writing in novels, Instagram captions, email campaigns, text messages, birthday cards, speeches, scripts. I am organized in every new field I venture into. I am a pro at execution, no matter what I’m working on. 

You have skills, too. And they will transfer to whatever you choose to do. In fact, more will reveal themselves if given the opportunity.

The one thing I’ll warn you of is the excitement that will awaken within you when you go after something. So many women have the idea for their second and third books before they’ve completed their first. It’s like our excitement blossoms when granted attention. 

When you prove to yourself that you will go after what you want, you will begin to uncover all that you desire. Then, of course you’ll need a plan, and to execute said plan. 

That’s it. That’s as complex as it gets. And I know it seems like I’m oversimplifying this, but I’m not. The time is going to pass, whether you change or not. Might as well become who you want to be. 

XOXO