Staying On Track

It’s hard to stay on track. It’s easy to say you want to change something, and maybe make some great progress in the beginning, but it is hard to continue pushing forward with the same enthusiasm day after day. That is actually one of the many reasons I decided to start a blog: Accountability. If I don’t post, or my posts start sounding bitter, it is pretty obvious to myself and others that I’ve fallen off the wagon. That could give me the little boost I need to remind myself why I’m doing this, and how important it is.

Of course, various people who have been in my life are the real reminders of why I’m doing this. Finally really realizing and believing that others in the world are doing the best they can, living their lives and trying to be good people. That’s really all I needed to see to get to this point – that people ARE trying to be good. Not EVERYONE in our society has lost their way, and even some who have are turning it around. That’s the hope I needed to calm me down, because when all you see around you is negative, it can get pretty depressing. Relax. Calm down. Be patient.

Patience… one of the things I’ve been starting to learn recently, as well. But it takes a lot of mental effort. Baby steps, day by day. Patience and acceptance go hand-in-hand with living a happy life, I think. You can know the right path, know how people should feel and act, but then you have to be patient with those around you and accept where they are in their path and their life. Realize that others grew up in different environments, with different experiences that weighed heavily on them and influenced them to become the people they are today. Not only that, but everyone has different needs and methods of giving and receiving love, discipline and wisdom. Some lessons they should have learned may not have been provided in a constructive manner that was easy to swallow, and may have caused more harm than good. That is where patience comes in. I can speak for myself – some lessons I should have learned were given in a tough-love way, and it messed me up more than it helped at the time. I ended up resenting the lessons instead of taking the facts, reframing them, and absorbing them in a way that was more compatible with me. No one is a mind reader – they can’t easily know how you need to hear things to really appreciate and absorb them. You have to break down what people say to you, or do to you, and find your own message within it. And vice versa. Try to realize that those around you don’t absorb things the same way you do, so try to cater it to them, and don’t get frustrated if they still don’t get it. Most likely either they are not ready, or you haven’t presented it to them in a form they can appreciate that really resonates with them.

How can you cater your communication to the needs of others? How could others cater their communication to your needs?