Encouragement for the Discouraged

Can I be honest with you?

I’m feeling a little discouraged today. Actually, I’ve been feeling a little discouraged a lot of days lately. You see, I seem to have fallen into a slump — one where everything I’ve been trying to do has been lacking. I’ve only run a handful of times. I’ve only written a handful of paragraphs. I haven’t opened my Bible in….well, longer that I’d like to admit to the cyberworld.

I’ve been having a hard time trying to balance all the things I want to do. I want to run 3-4 times a week instead of just 1 or 2. I want to write a little bit of my novel every day, or even a few times a week, instead of fits and starts throughout the month. I start out with grand plans and goals, only to give up or fall behind, and the more I fall behind, the more discouraged I start to feel. I spend less and less time doing the things I love and more and more time sitting around thinking about doing them but not, or wondering why I’m not doing them, and what the heck happened to get me so far off track. Please, tell me I’m not alone on this seesaw.

 

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to post for today’s blog, but The Man told me to write was was in my heart. So, I thought about it. And I thought, I can’t possibly be the only person out there who is suffering from self doubt and frustration. So, I decided to share where I am, and in doing so I found some quotes I thought might help me, so I decided ‘why not?’

It’s easy to fall into those feelings of doubt, despair, and frustration. Lately for me I’ve been struggling with my writing. I seem to have hit a bit of writer’s block, and what I have written lately makes me think it’s terrible, and I just want to give up. As a matter of fact, sometimes I do give up – for a little while. But then I have to remind myself – I’ve written almost 150 pages of a novel. It may not be a good novel, but I’ll never know until I finish it, right? I’ve never finished a novel before in my life. I’ve started novels lots of times, but I never seem to have the courage or the patience or the motivation or the self confidence to stick it out.

This time, I’m going to.

I’ve also been telling myself for weeks that I’m going to start running longer distances or running more times per week. But then something will happen – like it will be too windy, or I’ll be too tired, or it’s too dark out, or I have a headache. Then, before I know it – another week has gone by and I’ve had one or two half-hearted runs that week.

So, I’m done with being discouraged. Sure, it won’t be easy, and I’ll still have days (or weeks) where I haven’t accomplished as much as I’ve wanted to, but that’s no reason to curl up into the fetal position and give up, right?

I just gotta keep on keepin’ on.

How do you find motivation to stick your goals? What helps you keep going when you want to give up?