If you’ve been hanging around the site for a while you’re probably familiar with my inspirational #MotivationMonday posts where I write about experiences and realizations in an effort to inspire aspirational action. In other words, I want what I write to get you act, to your benefit. I believe it’s part of my purpose in life to encourage others to strive for (and hopefully achieve) higher goals and impart as much joy into their lives as possible. And sometimes, I’m even preaching to myself.
You may thinking to yourself, then, “What’s the deal?!” as you’ve probably noticed the mysterious absence of any of those inspirational posts as of late. And that, my dears, brings about a {clever little} segue to the topic of today’s post: sometimes the encourager needs encouraging too.
For the last 3 weeks or so I’ve been in a quite a bit of a stall pattern. I had {and still have!} several big projects I needed to tackle and I didn’t have a clear path at all on how to achieve them all. The issue was that they were big projects; they were important projects; they were multi-layered projects; they were projects with bold vision; they were projects I’d never done before; and they all needed to be accomplished by…*looks at calendar and watch*…yesterday.
You know that old saying about “spinning your wheels” with regards to using a lot of effort without achieving any results? Well not only was I not get any results, but honey my wheels didn’t feel like they were even spinnin’ AT. ALL. Feeling deeply overwhelmed and severely under-equipped to press forward, I had nothing in the tank when it came to encouraging myself, let alone inspiring anyone else.
I was in desperate need of a “rah-rah” session to help get me back on track. Then, all of a sudden, swooping in from the heavens right at the very moment I needed encouragement the most, came…NO ONE.
That’s right. No one came to save me. People often forget that the person who is always cheering other on to success needs a little bit of cheering for too sometimes. And quite frankly my dears, there will be times where the support system you need can’t–or doesn’t–come through for you when you need them. Sometimes people are too self-absorbed to encourage you. Other times folks temporarily aren’t in a position to give you the boost you need even though they may want to. Then there are some people in your tribe that are just plain ol’ unintentionally unaware of your need for support.
But did I wait around for someone to cheer me on? Not a chance. This was a situation I was determined to turn around, and I was going to do exactly that with or without an assist from someone else. So, how did I do it? Here’s how I “cheered” myself back to life, and how you can too:
- I sought incremental knowledge solutions to my problems. No matter what it is you are trying to accomplish, there is a 99% chance that someone else in the world is trying; has tried; or has accomplished it. I decided to do a little research and search out webinars that could help me from a practical skills standpoint. Nothing is more empowering than learning how to do something you need done for yourself. My favorite sites for knowledge solutions include Udemy {branding, marketing, web design, foreign languages}; Creative Live {great business courses}; Creativebug {craft classes & workshops}; and Khan Academy {math, computer, art, and finance}.
- Go to a live event to hear the story of someone who has overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges to achieve their dreams. I went to a conference hosted by sewing, fashion, and lifestyle blogger supreme MiMi G {recap coming soon!}, and let me tell you this woman’s chuztpah to succeed on her own terms in the face of the life-altering circumstances launched my spirit into the stratosphere. On top of all that, she was sassy and hilariously funny, which boosted me even more.
- Open your mouth and tell people what you are facing and dealing with. You may not get the emotional cheerleading session you need, but what you may get instead is someone offering to assist you with some the tasks you have to complete. Sometimes having the opportunity to delegate some of what you’re dealing with is just as good as someone giving you a boost of confidence. Trust me, just having a couple of things off my plate helped increase my determination {and ability} to work on and complete the others.
Even though you can cheer for yourself you must not forget to cheer for others! I bet you have at least one person in your life who believes in you and is always pushing you to be your best self. When is the last time you’ve returned the favor? Even if you don’t think they need it, or even if you think that what you say won’t help, just do it anyway! You never know what small thing you might say to someone that could end up meaning everything to them. Believe me, a little bit of encouragement can go an extremely long way.
So, oddly enough, a post about needing encouragement for myself might actually end up encouraging you by getting you to do what it takes to inspire yourself, and helping you remember to be a source of inspiration to those who are always there for you, even when you may not think they need it.
Wait a minute…dang it, this post was supposed to be about me and my needs! Ah well, I guess encouragement really is in my bones. Perhaps some things never–and don’t need to–change. Proof positive that no matter what our circumstances are, we can all step out of our own situations to from time to time to support and uplift someone else.
This has been The Bubbleista, self-proclaimed “Encourager Extraordinaire” {wink} signing off until the next edition of Motivation Monday.