Let’s face it, to most of us commitment feels more like a burden than a gift. It is often linked to missing out on people, situations, opportunities. If you look at successful people, you will notice that commitment brought them a long way. It is important to know that it all starts with you. As much important to know, that often times it invokes change. Before you assume that you are not worthy to feel successful then keep on reading. Anyone can practice on their commitment - yes, ANYONE! And there are ways to navigate THROUGH CHANGE. Here are the main steps to build up your trust muscles.
First off:
“Courage is the commitment to begin without any guarantee of success.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Nail It Down! What’s your current location and where are you heading to?
You need to become very meticulous on where it is you’re CURRENTLY standing. The next step would then be to being OPEN TO THE JOURNEY that is lying ahead of you. Don’t stress too much on the journey, though.
If you have ever been on a road trip, on a walk in a foreign city or on your way to a specific location then you will probably know the advantages of a GPS system (some might still use a Compass 😉). This tool locates your current location and is able to give you the direction to your destination. If your reception is turned off, your GPS will not be able to locate you, hence you will have to figure out by yourself how to get to the next waterfall, your hotel or the new fancy restaurant in town.
When we do not have these tools, we have to rely on our will to FIGURE OUT the way. We might have a map and memorize the way, we ask people to show us the way, we try our best to remember the way from where we came from.
Just like the evolution of technology, we as human beings have evolved as well. We have become used to instant gratification and getting our answers in just a few clicks. We get everything we want at our favorite store. We can even get our favorite meal delivered to our doorstep. (read more about Instant Gratification here, it’s so worth it)
While this has indeed a lot of advantages (Hello, more time!), it has conditioned the majority of us to live on auto-pilot. This conditioning is creating our belief system and leads to a pattern on how we REACT to life. It also made us assume that listening to our soul’s and intuition’s whisper is not to be taken so seriously.
You are here on this earth for a PURPOSE, and it is NOT to live on auto-pilot.
Assessing your current situation is as important as switching on the reception for the GPS. It comes with challenges and discouragement indeed. If you’re a COMMITTED person, you will not take this too seriously as you know that there is no such thing as failure. Commitment means DEDICATION and the willingness to GET INVOLVED and requires you to acknowledge to look for the answers to your questions.
One step to look for some answers is starting with a small commitment to yourself by implementing a personal Ritual Routine. Something like this Ritual Toolkit can support you to start off the process. Because everything starts with YOU. Only you are in charge of your actions. All of your decisions and actions are going to define your journey.
Make the Commitment
This is not a quick fix and not everyone will have the endurance to pull through. It takes good personal LEADERSHIP and TRUST to take on this journey.
Being committed means firing up your PASSION and having the unapologetic desire to become a BETTER VERSION of yourself. It also means that you are going to be willing to go inward. The original meaning of commitment is “combine” and “put together”.
True commitment can only work if you start to combine your INNER with your OUTER world.
Some people are attracted to the shiny object as their goal but not very much to the process. This is a very superficial approach and will only work in the short-term.
If you’re in for the long run, then self-awareness is THE inevitable tool you need! (here are some benefits)
Committed people bring qualities such as having high SELF-ESTEEM, being more CONCERNED with what is going on around them, being CRITICAL of situations and others.
It also comes with Challenges. Challenges that show up as our beliefs and mind traps (a.k.a. excuses).
These mind traps can show up in the following shape:
Catastrophizing
Exaggerating
Mind reading
Being the external expert
Bringing all the “shoulds”
Blaming others and situations
Claiming that it’s “All or nothing”
Emotional Reasoning
Not being aware of these traps can cause:
Increased STRESS
ANXIETY
DEPRESSED mood
Creating self-awareness imposes us to spend time with ourselves and starting to listen to that inner whisper. If you are new to the process of self-discovery then this Ritual Toolkit can support you kicking it off.
All of us grow up with people around us. Parents, teachers, friends, caretakers and more are our influence in our childhood and define our belief system. This belief system creates CONDITIONED EMOTIONS leading to:
Learned reactions
Conditioned emotions
Conditioned words
Learned helplessness
By ASSESSING what your specific beliefs are (and I dare you to be as specific as possible!), you create AWARENESS.
The next step is to look for people who have been in your position and were able to surpass their challenges. Our mind only believes what it sees. And we can not survive without our mind. In order to tame it and being able to collaborate with it, we need to FEED it with INFORMATION.
The most crucial step is then to TAKE ACTION. And this is where it get’s interesting! Because now, you start to CHALLENGE yourself by seeing the results of your commitment and getting first results of an UPLIFTING experience.
Don’t stop here! Follow-through
You might get first successes and maybe will be riding high on this killer wave. And then, chances are that you crash. Chances also are, that you will only get small waves of success. This step is about the JOURNEY. There is no such thing as a destination, so don’t stress about not being there yet.
We are being faced with challenges throughout our entire life and being able to ADAPT to unexpected changes is very very necessary.
Please know, that you’re never alone going through challenges. Please also know, that there is a PATTERN OF CHANGE. It looks something like this:
You are totally PISSED and UPSET with your current situation
You come to a BREAKING POINT where you can not stand your whining anymore
You make a decision and will FEEL INVINCIBLE - go girl!!
FEAR kicks in! Really hard! Making you feel like a loser, anxious and doubtful
Then AMNESIA comes to take over fear’s role. You will tell yourself that “it wasn’t that bad after all”
You START BACK AT ONE, beating yourself up because you did not push through
SELF-HONESTY is what is going to help you get through this. Ask yourself the following questions:
Can you see how this vicious change pattern has IMPACTED your life?
Are you ready for it to STOP?
Have you met AMNESIA already before? What happened back then?
What will happen if you continue NOT to CHANGE?
Are you ready to COMMIT to self-honesty (even if it hurts like hell) because you’re so fed up with your state of mind?
Are you ready to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY and create the life you want?
Are you at a point where you will NOT ACCEPT anything else than what you wish for?
Additionally to those questions, it is important to understand the reasoning that kept you to fall back the entire time. Here are some of the possible reasons why you have allowed yourself to fall back. Discern which ones apply to you and write down how they make you feel:
You actually don’t want to CHANGE
You really don’t KNOW what you want (it is helpful to imagine: if money, time, and people wouldn’t limit you, what would you do?)
Your dream is NOT BIG ENOUGH
You let FEAR be bigger than you
You are so ATTACHED to your problem! (who would you be without it and what would you be talking about?)
You’re BENEFITING from your problem (are you holding on to something? What are the benefits? Again, be specific!)
If you have been able to discern your feelings around your cycle of change, then it is time to ACCEPT the fact that you are here for a reason. You have a very unique mission and gift that you need to share! So please follow through and leave those excuses at the door. (and these empowerment quotes are supporting you all the way)
The process of commitment is to:
NAIL DOWN and ASSESS where you’re currently standing
start to COMMIT and assessing the beliefs that can hold you back
follow through after DISCERNING what challenges you can be facing
All theses applied are going to bring you so much FURTHER than you might think!
The most important thing to remember is to be PATIENT and to give yourself the GRACE that you made the decision to unapologetically commit to nothing less than what you feel you deserve.
If you are ready to take on the journey now, then start GIFTING yourself with some extra attention by implementing your personal rituals and I would feel more than HONORED to walk along with you on this journey. Remember, the best time to start off anything is now.
XO,
Anabell
