Last updated on July 13th, 2022 at 05:13 pm
It’s that time of year that if I don’t get out for a walk by sunset, then I will think of a thousand reasons why it’s too cold to walk. This is a small example of how we work (or I should say, ‘don’t work’) our dreams.
That old inner voice speaks–getting right up in my face with all the reasons I hate walking in the cold. “It’s too dark, it’s too late; you’d have to find your shoes; those shoes irritate you; you need to send those emails, your son/kid/boyfriend/husband/pets/parents need you to feed them; The Good Wife looks good even though you never watch it; there’s laundry to fold, and you are tired …”
Are you hearing me here?
It’s at this point that I understand in my deepest soul that I must somehow beat this voice by making myself go outside and greet the cold. It’s what successful dreamers do. They would say to themselves, “Hello thing that I don’t like, or I am afraid of … I am here to play and I am going to go ahead and take one step and see how I feel.”
But what if you aren’t up to it?
The part of me that wants to be a success will try to get the resistant part of me to agree to only walk to the end of the block. The resistant part of me thinks that could be fairly easy, so I put on my winter coat. I am still eying the evening dishes and those thousand excuses are screaming at me to listen.
I push out the back door and by the time I am at the end of the block, I decided to go another. Pretty soon, I am taking in deep breaths of cold air walking block after block contemplating the fact that my mind doesn’t know when to shut the hell up.
It isn’t until I am walking that third block that I am able to get out of my head, into my body, and take a look at my life. Why do I resist something that is this good for me and my dream?
Because it’s change.
It’s because I forget how much more I deserve out of life. Change is agreeing to more. Back to those damn first ten minutes of my walk.
You have to start small. You have to stop at some point in your day and ask yourself what you have done for you this day. If you can’t think of anything beyond brushing your teeth, then it’s time to put on those walking shoes.
I tell myself that I will find my shoes and put them on. This will be the thing I do for myself today. Once I’ve got them on, it doesn’t feel like enough for me today. I may as well brush my teeth and put on a pretty sweater. That’s not enough either. Where’s my water bottle? The next thing I know, I am briskly walking down the street.
You must tell yourself that you will sit down and create the title for your first chapter. Nothing more. You must tell yourself that you will create a draft email to the company you want to work with–it’s only a draft, nothing more. If that’s too much, then make yourself look up the email address and add it to your contacts.
Breaking down your dream into little small steps that take the pressure off helps you to do more. Before you know it you’ve taken that first hard step towards your dream. It’s not about whether you feel like it or not, it’s whether you can hook yourself into taking the smallest step.
Tonight the night sky was filled with stars, dream dust, and the sound of my beating heart against the tapping of my small steps embracing the cold.
One small step.
Catherine Hughes is the founder, content director and editor-at-large of 8WomenDream. She is passionate about helping women step out of their own way and strike out into a world waiting for their special talents. She’s a published author and a former award-winning mom blogger. Catherine has helped companies both large and small create engaging web content, social media narratives, and unique blogging platforms. She claims to be a redhead, but don’t hold that against her.
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