Ever feel like you’re falling behind in life?
Somehow it feels like everyone else has the right answers, and a clear path while you’re left sitting at home, Netflixing by yourself, wondering why all the guys on Bumble seem completely disinterested in the kind of relationship you see everyone else on the internet has??
You may find yourself wondering what you’re missing… Why are you falling behind in life?
What does everyone else have or know that you don’t?
And then the looming fear of falling behind hits and it feels like an earthquake that shakes you to your core. It can feel like a constant looming thought of doom and self depreciation.
“Well, clearly there must be something wrong with me. I’m never going to get there or have what I want. I feel like I’m watching as my life passes me by and there’s not much I can do about it.”
If this rings a bell, you’re not alone. You might notice that when these thoughts pop up, you find yourself overcome by self comparison, anxiety and feelings of defeat.
Let me walk you through 6 Tips for When You Feel Like You’re Falling Behind…
(cough, cough, you’re NOT)…
- Ditch the idea that any single human on the planet earth has the right answers or path. Seriously. I want you to envision that this belief, this story that you’re telling yourself is a big, heavy boulder like rock that you’re carrying around with you, and you don’t know why. You recognize that it’s kind of inconvenient, tends to weigh you down, and doesn’t really feel helpful. THAT is the equivalent of the belief that everyone else is doing it right. Unrealistic, untrue, unhelpful. Put the boulder down my friend. You don’t need the added struggle.
- Connect to yourself and your inner knowing. Become the expert on YOU. So while other people may experience things you’re seeking for yourself, and they may have things that you want, no one can possibly know what’s “right” for YOU. Instead of looking outside yourself all the time for direction, what would it be like to instead turn inward and start asking yourself more helpful questions that allow you to become connected to your inner knowing and self expertise? That is the magic sauce! (Want to know HOW? Sign up for my free 5 Day Lean Into Your Life series here.)
- Work with the unhelpful, and likely untrue stories that the mind likes to make up about how great everyone else’s life is. Susie Q may be posting her beautiful home and boasting about her deep love meanwhile she’s struggling to get out of bed in the mornings, or feels wildly disconnected to her current reality. You wouldn’t know! The truth is that our minds are reason making machines. The human brain is really great at taking bits and pieces of information and making up a whole bunch of things in the middle to make it make sense for us, whether or not there’s truth behind it. Practice asking yourself a few questions when you notice your mind is telling you all the reasons you’re falling behind… Is that true? Can I know for a fact that’s true? Is that helpful? Does that align with who and how I want to be in my life? See what comes up, and what you might choose to re-write for yourself.
- Normalize the in-between, messy middle, always learning and growing parts of life. This thing we call life is an ongoing, windy journey. Cliche? Yep. True? Also yep! We can be so eager to be “there” because we tell ourselves once we have something, we’ll feel a certain way. How can you start to actively practice feeling how you want to feel in your life currently while continuing to grow and move forward? It’s okay to not see your path clearly just yet or to feel stuck in a messy season. It’s really normal actually, and when we’re engaged with it, we can often learn a lot.
- Find your blinders and keep them close. Sometimes it can be really hard to find our own strength, peace, clarity or direction when we’re constantly inundated with other people, and what’s going on in their lives. Welcome in the stress, anxiety, self doubt and comparison! An offering to get really mindful about where you’re putting your attention, time and energy. How might you put on blinders so that you can center back in on YOU and the connection within that you’re cultivating? You are enough my friend!
- Intentionally cultivate a self appreciation practice! Self appreciation, self awareness, self trust – it’s all a practice. Actively engage with cultivating these skills. Maybe it’s writing a list of things you are proud of yourself for each morning, maybe it’s creating a vision that connects so deeply to the core of who you are that you can’t help but feel inspired or maybe it’s regularly giving thanks to pieces of you that show up day in and day out (your body, your heart, your voice, etc). Get in the habit of appreciating all that you ALREADY are as you’re working on moving forward!
Hopefully you’ve found some golden nuggets in here that you can keep with you! If you’re looking to dive even deeper, understand yourself more and alleviate the stress and anxiety so you can live more connected, present and aligned, sign up for a free consultation call to learn more about working together!
I believe in you 1000x over, and I’m so glad you’re here. Oh, and you’re enough. You are always exactly where you’re meant to be.
