Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Dec/Jan 2018 Aspire Mag Full Issue: Taking Time fo | Page 59
moments you’ll realize it’s all a big story, a
projection of other people’s hopes and fears
onto you. And you might realize it’s a nightmare
that you desperately want to break free from.
If you want to stop running on the hamster
wheel of life, here are a few things I’ve
learned that I hope will help you too:
You won’t lose everything if you exit
the race. You’re not lazy or worthless.
It’s a belief you have because you were
trained from an early age to build this life.
This wasn’t a devious plot masterminded
by Pinky and the Brain, but the care and
concern of well-meaning parents, teachers,
cousins, neighbors, Girl Scout leaders,
softball coaches - everyone who wanted you
to be happy and successful in life and in the
ways they knew how. You were convinced
this was the way to be and you wanted to
please them. You didn’t want your family
to disown you, and you didn’t want to live
under an overpass.
When you exit the race, you affirm that who
you are is more important than what you
do. You’re so much more than your to-do
list. You’re worthy as you are regardless of
how much you do or don’t do. And you’ll
find that you’ll only lose the things that no
longer serve.
You have options.
They may not be
obvious yet. Right now all you know is
that you must follow a script otherwise you
won’t be successful, much less happy. But
if you continue to wear the straightjacket of
busyness, you can’t expand your arms and
welcome the flow of joy into your life.
You can choose to redefine what makes
YOU feel happy and successful.
Change the story. You always have a
choice to keep going or step back. You
can decide how busy you want to be. To
believe otherwise is to believe that you don’t
deserve to stop, relax, and reflect on what
you think o