I’m frequently challenged to keep moving forward; to stay focused on what I started and where I am going. One of those challenges is writing my blog to you each week. I question my ability to give you a piece of inspiration and motivation that truly helps and makes a difference to your day, week and life. As I expose myself in cyberspace I question who I am to be doing this, I question my adeptness and my message … nevertheless I write my blog and then go about my weekly activities till it’s time to write you again. Except last week I blew it …
As someone whose career path focuses on mental fitness and the promotion of balanced, healthy and abundant living, I believe I need to be walking my talk. However, I am human, and do not always hit the mark. Last week, I missed the mark; the exact thing I’d written about confronted me… I gave in to my emotional clutter.
My clutter encompasses, but is not limited to, feelings of inadequacy, failure and loneliness. Last week as I allowed these feelings to impact my thoughts and flood my brain, my self-confidence plummeted, and I reacted to my pain by going to my hideaway of food and hours of TV. In so doing I let myself believe I could avoid the grief with these false walls of protection.
Through years of working on me, I’ve become more and more aware of these tendencies. As well, I’ve found a treasure trove of tools that help me face my hurt and clear out the clutter. Some of the simplest and effective tools I’ve found are short sound bites, phrases or slogans, many of which are common within the rooms of 12-step programs.
To deal with last weeks emotional clutter I reminded myself that I may not be where I want to be, but I am not where I used to be; it’s about life-long learning and peeling away different layers of an onion. I also repeated the following sound bites:
… And I got better.
If you or anyone you know needs assistance with their emotional clutter and building their mental fitness contact me at betty@bettyfranklin.com.