How to give yourself credit for all that you have accomplished thus far.

“I’m too young to feel like I’m running out of time.”

I have been on the hunt for anything and everything that will push me/us closer to my/our goals. Yes, this is a good thing, BUT have I been appreciating where I’m at in this moment?

Not as much as I should be. 

I think a lot of these feelings have to do with the standstill I’ve been because of what’s going on the in world right now.

Another accomplishment I have been trying to mark off my list is having my own kiln, which would be more possible if we had a house- and with a house, I could relocate all of my woodworking equipment to my own space.

Excitement and hustling toward this domino effect hasn’t been helping as much as I would hope so, but I’m getting there.

When do you feel this sort of unfulfillment? If you’re a woman, you may be feeling the “Unfulfilled Female Syndrome” which I’ve touched on before. 

How do we help this?

We need to take the time to appreciate our accomplishments, and not just the materialistic items we’ve marked off our task list.

How has your outlook on life changed? How has your perspective and thinking grown

I encourage you to take some time this week and sit down with pen and paper or any kind of physical writing tools, not using the notes page in your phone. Writing is a visceral experience and we tend to pay more attention and soak in more information when actually writing things down, which will allow you to reflect more deeply on your achievement.

What to do if you want to feel fulfilled:

1. Take the last year, five years, or ten years and write down the first little thing that led you to where you are. For instance, mine would be choosing to change my major to art and follow my passion rather than shooting for some big-time corporate job that just wasn’t in my ideal life dreams.

That one little decision is what changed it all for me, and here I am.

2. Now that you have your starting point, write down all of the big things that have happened in your life (ie. graduation, marriage, buying a car/home, moving into your own space, growing plant babies, having your own babies).

3. From the big ones, branch off and write down the great events or hardship that you have overcome leading up to each big one.

4. Add in the outcomes of each big one.

5. Think about what accomplishing each task on your paper has now led to? Or what events and growth those accomplishments could lead to.

You have achieved so much whether you realize it or not. If you want to make a timeline, that may help. Take in those cause-and-effect events and spend time appreciating them and patting yourself on the back.

Remember that you would not be where you are today if you had not overcome those hardships and pushed yourself to work harder to be better and do better.

You are who you are because of everything you have been through and you deserve all the credit in the world for that.

Keep that list near to you and look back at it every so often as a reminder. If there is something big you’re going to have to deal with in the near future, ready yourself by reminding yourself that you have already survived through so much and you get through do this too.

Our success is never an overnight story. Our success never comes from just one little bitty achievement. We cannot blow our lives up with greatness by accomplishing one tiny thing.

Success comes from the compounded accumulation of each little effort we have put forth.

So, if we stay consistent and take time to appreciate where we are right now without necessarily rushing (I mean, make it happen but realize that some people spend the majority of their lives searching for their dreams and that is okay) and breathe in the moment, then we will achieve it all.

You cannot rush success and you cannot turn back time and you are too young to feel like you’re running out of time.

Also, life is not about hustle hustle hustle. Who wants to live that way? Get some rest and get back to it tomorrow, but don’t kill your health and your mentality by never stopping.

Find your pace and your flow and stick with it comfortably and well-rested.