My husband was pulling out of the garage one recent evening. At that exact moment, my daughter’s carpool ride pulled into our driveway perpendicular to my husbands car. It was dark outside, the dog was barking, and I opened the front door to let my daughter out just as I saw a horrific image: my husband’s car continuing to back up towards the other car with our daughter in between the two.
Fortunately, between my screaming and the other driver’s honking, my husband stopped just in time and all was well.
Phew! (He really is a great driver, by the way and in fairness, it was pitch black and he wasn’t expecting the other car at that time. )
I was a bit flustered and my adrenaline was rushing so when he rolled down the window I yelled, “why weren’t you looking in the direction you were going?!?”
In this case, it was an honest mistake. But most of us tend not to look in the direction we are going when it comes to many aspects of our lives.
We have so many hopes and dreams.
We make goals and plans, especially at the start of a new year.
But then we look backwards to determine what we’ve done before when deciding what we can do next.
We look backwards and use our past achievements as evidence of what we are capable of.
We use our past failures as evidence of our limitations.
We tell ourselves we can’t do something because we’ve never done it before. Or maybe no one has done it. Or maybe we tried it before and failed.
I can’t change who I am because that’s how I’ve always been.
I can’t stop yelling at my kids because that’s just who I am or how I was raised.
I can’t be more organized because my brain just doesn’t work that way.
I can’t lose the weight because I’ve tried that before and failed.
But this way of thinking is completely flawed and will keep you stuck exactly where you are.
Always look in the direction you want to move.
Always look in the direction you want to move.
If you want to change something about yourself or do something different in your life, then you can’t rely on your past to guide you.
You have to look forward.
You can’t look to your past for evidence of something you want to achieve if you’ve never done it before.
The hardest part of moving forward is not looking back.
If you are trying something new this year, you’re two weeks in and you’ve already “failed”, great!
Tomorrow is a new day.
When you wake up tomorrow, don’t look to today.
Don’t look to yesterday, or this morning, or a even an hour ago if it won’t take you in the direction you want to go.
There’s only one way to look – to your better, greater future.
Your future self is waiting for you, smiling.
Keep moving forward, one day, one hour, one minute at a time and keep your vision focused in only one direction – the direction you want to go.
Which direction are you moving in this year?
Need help getting there? Schedule a free mini session with me.
