Change It up – Do Something Different!

Have you ever found yourself in a rut where nothing seems to be advancing in your life? You wake up each with discouragement induced brain fog.

No matter how hard you try you feel like your life is just spinning its wheels. Somedays you feel like a hamster going round and round, but not getting anywhere in particular. Sometimes it feels like the hamster wheel comes to an abrupt stop and you fall off and end up staring at the ceiling wondering to yourself “Is this all there is”?

There are different kinds of ruts. Maybe you are in a relationship rut. Maybe your dating life seems about as exciting as watching wet paint dry. Maybe your marriage life is in a drought and will need a firehose to revive it. Maybe you feel stuck in a job that does not inspire you, but you go in day after day because it pays the bills. We have all been there. Ruts just bring us down or put us into an automatic pilot mode.

Is It Time for a Change?

Some of us just want something to change, but we have no idea how that will happen. We are looking for that magic bullet, that magic wand to just wave us out of the doldrums of our life and into a new life of something meaningful, something where we feel we are actually going somewhere and doing something of importance.

So, what can we do to change things? Is there any hope for us?. Well, actually there is. We can climb out of this “depth of despair”, as Anne of Green Gables famously and dramatically called her difficult life situations. We can change things up, we can make things happen.

Expose Yourself to New Things

Yes, that is right! We can show our brains all kinds of new things: new experiences, new ways of seeing things. We can take ourselves to new places, even within our own city. Why not go visit car dealers shops and take the cars for a test drive. You don’t actually have to plan on buying them. What you are looking for are new experiences. Why not go visit a million-dollar house that is on the market? Go for a tour. Why not?  Try on new clothes (ones you can’t normally afford).  Go to a travel agency and get brochures of places you would like to visit.

What you are doing here is expanding, stretching your mind. You are giving yourself permission to dream again. Doing this – trying new things, seeing new things – will set your mind to believing that you too can dream and accomplish what you thought was too late for you or just for other people. And always make your dream bigger than your reality.

Decide

It really begins here, with a decision. That is really the first step. It is also the hardest and scariest step for most of us. But, really, nothing happens without a decision. It has been said that successful people are “quick to make decisions and slow to change their minds.”

What does this mean? It means that they get the information they need, they evaluate the data and make a decision. and once they have made their decision, they stick with it and manage it. They choose to ‘”stay in their lane.” The decision may not look like much and it may come with risks. Maybe they don ‘t have all the facts and most likely they can’t see the end of the road, but they stick to their guns and dive in.

This “making a decision” thing can apply to whatever we want to change, whether it be our financial situation, our parenting, our work situation or others. We simply have to decide.

Change Your Thoughts

Any computer analyst will tell you that the output is dependant on the input. If good data goes in, then there will be good output on the other end. How do we get better input? Well, we need to change what information we are allowing into our minds. The fact is, the information we have received up until now is largely what has brought us to where we are in life. We need to get new and better information and throw out the baggage we have been used to, including the suitcases.

Whether it comes to changing your health, your fitness level or anything else in life, new information and new associations will change things for you. Get around new people who are going in the direction you want to go to. If you want to improve your health or fitness, wouldn’t it make sense to get around people who are pursuing health goals? Now, of course, this doesn’t mean get rid of your friends and family; It just means associating with people who think differently and are getting the results you want.

Keep up the Momentum

Once you decide and are geared to make a change, it needs to become a habit. A habit takes 63 days (roughly just over 2 months) to solidify. so don’t give up. Stay on the path. Stay in your lane.

Find your motivation. Most of us have a 2-week motivation to go to work (paycheck to paycheck) and that is what keeps us going to work each day. It’s time to find a new motivation, one that comes from you, rather than a boss, whether it is a desire to change a situation you are tired of, or whether you are chasing a dream. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for help. Ask for guidance from people who can help you. And most importantly, stay away from the “whiners and complainers” – they will only discourage you.

Finish What You Start

Winston Churchhill famously said:

Never, ever give up.

Don’t quit, don’t get distracted and don’t fall back. Be kind to yourself and take your new path in small steps. Every day, do something that is moving you forward toward your goal, whether it is reading a new book or talking with someone who can help you. Don’t sabotage the progress you have made by compromising or slacking off (a bit). Remember, the couch is not the best place to find motivated people.

No matter what, time will pass. Time is a relentless thief that will steal your time away from you when you are not looking. We need to redeem the time and make the most of the time we have to do what only we can do. Don’t let time take away the precious moments you could have used to change things in your life.

Know that You Have a Destiny

We were not born to just pay the bills and try to get by. We are worth so much more than that. We have so much to offer the world, but how will the world know what we have to offer if we don’t even know ourselves because we never believed we could do more and be more?

The economic world we live in loves for us is to stimulate the economy, pay our taxes and be “good” citizens. While none of these are wrong, we have greater contributions to make and a bigger impact to have on the world. There are people whose lives we can change and places we can discover. There are new inventions to create and books to write about.

Be bold, be courageous. Don’t hold back from doing what only you can do. Have questions bigger than your answers. Always go deeper than what you know and remember that in the end, we will never know it all.

Has this post inspired you? Please leave a comment below.