The universe taught me a great lesson last week. "Today's lesson: Just because you haven't climbed to the top of the mountain yet, doesn't mean you won't make it to the summit. It just means you're still climbing."
I'd expected (or, well, had been blissfully optimistic) I'd reach a goal of mine last week and when the results came in and that goal wasn't reached, I was upset...for about 25 seconds, until I said to myself, "Lindsay! Stop pouting and celebrate! You didn't make the goal but you're SO CLOSE, let's celebrate how far you made it!" I had to remind myself to be happy about where I am and seize that moment instead of sulking about what isn't because what isn't isn't what matters. What matters is the progress I'd made. Then I did a little math and realized, if I kept going at the same speed I've been going, I'll reach my goal in the next 13 weeks. 13 weeks? That's it? Okay, party date set! If you're wondering what my goal was, it's about my books. It's such a big goal -- a once lofty aspiration I never thought possible, and now it's so close I can taste it. So what if I'm not there yet? Why am I not celebrating the success I already have? Why can't I be happy and content with where I am? WHY do I always want MORE?
It all brought me back to minimalism. I've written a few times how the consumer mentality leads to thinking that you need more, and what you have is never enough, which is a prescription for disappointment, so that's why I'm a minimalist. However, it seems that "consumer" mentality spilled over into other, non-material parts of my life. (I'm finding my minimalist journey has less to do with "stuff" and more to do with "life".) Whatever goal we're trying to reach -- shouldn't we focus on the progress we've made, and celebrate small victories, rather than focusing on the end and the ground still left to cover? I thought back to when I was training for my first marathon. I realized quickly that early on in a run, I couldn't think about all the miles left to run. I couldn't think, okay! 25 ft down, 26.2 miles to go! NO. I had to focus on the ground I covered. Hurrah Lindsay! 5 miles! YEAH you just did 10 you badass! Woot woot! We're at 20! It wasn't until I only had a few miles left that I could use them as a motivator. "Heck yeah! Only two miles, you got this girlfriend!" Why not take that approach with my other goals? Whether it's a business one, a weight goal, a debt goal -- any quantifiable goal, why not celebrate the small victories? I'm not a fan of Miley Cyrus necessarily, but when my a ha! moment happened,
Miley's song, The Climb popped into my head: "There's always going to be another mountain \ I'm always going to want make it move \ Always going to be an uphill battle \ sometimes I'm gonna have to loose \ Ain't about how fast I get there \ Ain't about what's on the other side \ It's the climb" Celebrate. And get ready for me to lose my stuff in mid October.
