Living in a non-perfect world, we are going to be faced with
all sorts of challenges that will, at times, weigh heavily upon us. Since we ourselves are also non-perfect
beings, we are going to find many areas in our own personal lives with which we
struggle. Who doesn’t have an area
within their life that they would like to improve? Even the most content person probably has one
small thing that they would like to build upon and grow from. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just walk in
to a Home Depot like store and pick up a catalog and basically buy or order the
improvements that we need for our day-to-day lives? That would be super nice and easy, but the
improvements we seek to make in our lives are ones that require us to do some
actual work, things that often cannot be purchased.
Sadly, in today’s society, when you hear the phrase about
improving something about yourself, everyone’s initial thoughts are typically
drawn to their physical appearance.
Every way we turn in life, we are surrounded by glitz and glamour – from
television and movies to the magazine stands to social media. We can’t seem to escape the desires to
improve your looks or overall lifestyle.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are some areas of my physical
body that I would love to improve (cough, cough – lose more weight), but that
is not the most important thing to me. I’m
not necessarily a materialistic person.
I am me – I was made the way I was made and it is who I am. If you don’t like it, well too bad, I’m not
changing it! (Not to mention, I don’t have the money to have any drastic surgeries
nor do I want to end up looking like an ancient, plastic, disfigured Barbie who
can’t hardly open her face – ANYWAYS….giant rabbit trail there …)
Contrary to the improvements of glitz and glamour, when I
think of areas in my life that I would like to improve, I often look internally
at matters that often plague my overall self.
Two big areas in which I often find myself struggling with and desiring
to improve are: stress/anxiety and worrying.
I guess they can all be combined in to one big area, but nonetheless, it
is something that I strongly desire to change in my life. But improving upon that is a gigantic feat
and one that is not going to disappear and ease with a surgical operation
(unless brain transplants ever do become realistic!)
We so often hear how stress will kill people or cause
serious health conditions, and I firmly believe that to be highly
accurate. I often am highly stressed,
whether it is at work or elsewhere, I often find myself “caught in a pickle” (so
to speak). Sometimes I can hide my
stress level pretty well, while other times I cannot. It is definitely an area in my life where I
need to just try to take a step back, breathe and let it go (ha, “letting it go”
– well therein lies another area to add to the list – see it can be an endless
list of items that we desire to improve about ourselves!) It is easy for us to
tell others not to get stressed or caught up in the moment, but when you try to
teach your own self that lesson, it is definitely not as easy. Sometimes we need a buddy to be our reminder
to just let things go. Let God have
control of the situation and get it out of your hands. He is the ultimate authority, so why even let
it bother us when things here are just temporal. One day, He will wipe it all away and we will
start over fresh and stress-free in eternity.
What a joyful day to look forward to!
Worrying is another area that I would like to improve
upon. I’ve already featured another blog
on the topic of worrying and how it is something I deeply struggle with, so I
am not going to rehash that out here. I
just have to keep realizing that when things start to worry or bother me, I
just need to immediately stop and pray and give it over to God.
When it comes to improving things in your life, there are
all sorts of methods you can take to correct your actions or improve your
situation. The choice is obviously yours
for which method you want to utilize.
For me, sometimes the easiest thing to do is completely distract your
thoughts -- get lost in an alternate universe (yes, I just went there), just
daydream about something completely random, or better yet, pick up an
adult-coloring book and start coloring – you will be amazed at how distracting and
fun that is! Always remember, you aren’t
alone in your journey. Grab a buddy and
just ask them to be your motivator and cheerleader in this voyage. You can improve upon the area in your life
that you want, but you have to take the initiative to do it. Just saying you want to make the change is
one thing, but actually taking that first step is the key to success. Don’t be afraid. You can do this! Let’s take the challenge together. I’m going to strongly start working on
improving my stress-level and work on less-worry. I don’t want to let that be the cause of my
demise. We can overcome those obstacles. Choose what you want to and let’s do this
together! Keep pressing on, and we will
move forward together!
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