I had an epiphany in this season of The Epiphany today at my WW Meeting. This is the quote they showed us:
“She who has a why can bear any how” by Riedrich Nietzsche.
This is something my personality doesn’t really do. The boredom and repetitiveness of focusing on why I want my goals just doesn’t attract me. But I understood it differently today. If my why is strong enough, I will be pulled toward the how and toward my goals!
I have spent my whole life thinking if I can be as perfect as possible (even though nobody is perfect) I can then control what happens to me. If you read my book Woman Plans, God Laughs… you’ll know that I thought I controlled my life in every way until I got a dual diagnosis of two heart-breaking diseases, multiple sclerosis and endometriosis. Both made me have a life where I couldn’t control many of the things I thought I cared about, the most painful one over the years, being that I couldn’t have a career and make a lot of $ and all that comes with that. It has already been 12 years since I’ve worked.
My book was launched coming up on a year ago on January 24th. Having my story and my book be out in the world has been an amazing experience. But I don’t know how to be a perfect at something I’ve never done so I haven’t achieved many of my desires and goals in this arena yet.
If I followed living the above quote in a systematic way and with intention, it would lead me to look at the vision of my life. What I want to have and why. What it would look like to have healthy eating, for example, and how that would make me feel? Then the how is not to be a perfect eater, it is simply to make small choices daily because I want the vision of a healthy life, I want the way it would feel to have more energy and more activity and happiness in my life!
I always think the how of accomplishing a goal is the most important thing. But this life we’re living is a marathon not a sprint and we are faced with infinitesimal decisions to make on a minute by minute basis. Those small decisions are ultimately what move us forward to where we find ourself right now. The long-term vision is exactly what we need to end up where we want to be!
I’m excited to form a new habit this year and I’m keeping it simple. I’ve been in WW since May, but I’ve yet to complete the Success Story Journal they gave me. In it there is space to write my Why and my Goals. Then since I’m at a meeting once a week, there are blanks to keep track of and write down what worked and what didn’t that week. And I can modify and adjust my why as I go.
I’m looking forward to completing my success story day by day and looking back on my journey a year from now. I’ll let you know what I learn.
Happy New Year!
