The Wrong Path Can Veer Right

If you’re anything like me, you’ve woken up with a pit in your stomach and a feeling you can’t quite shake.  Nothing is wrong… but it’s not quite right either.  It’s a nagging feeling that something is off.  That is your capital T – True self trying to give you a nudge, letting you know that you should probably sort out what “that feeling” is trying to tell you.

I’ve woken up with that feeling, and I’ve ignored it.  Ignored it for days, weeks, months, years.  The more you ignore it and hope it goes away, the more it grows.  It doesn’t explode overnight, rather it grows just a little every day… until you wake up and that feeling has consumed you.

That feeling becomes a knowing that everything is wrong in your life.  Your job, relationship, geography… nothing is quite right.  

You can do one of two things next. You can stumble along, fighting the truth that’s rioting within you to get to the surface and continue to stifle it down and go on business as usual.  Except, business as usual comes at the expense of your joy, your health, your mental and emotional well-being.  Or you can sit with the discomfort, explore it, get to know it, and understand it.  

Getting intimate with the discomfort is really getting to know yourself.  What do you want?  How do you want to feel?  You can’t look to someone else for these answers.  You must look within.  This isn’t so easy when you’ve been doing “what you’re supposed to do” for so long.  

How do you figure out what YOU want?  Get quiet and sit with yourself. 

Create a vision board for your life.  

Meditate.  Every day.  I commit to 90 days when I’m seeking to get back on track with listening to myself.  I meditate for 10-15 minutes every day.  

Journal.  Every day.  Right after meditation.  I write down how I’m feeling, the thoughts that came into my mind while meditating, and anything else that strikes me. 

Notice the changes and acknowledge them.  I write down when some version of my vision board comes into my life.  You’d be surprised how much can change in just 90 short days.

So how does the wrong path become the right one?  It starts by acknowledging you’re on the wrong path.  You feel off. You want to change something.  Say it out loud.  Then, sit with yourself and figure out what you want for your life. Create the vision.  Let your imagination run wild.  Then you put your energy into it.  Take your vision and you put it into action.

If you find yourself back on auto pilot, craving change, you can repeat this process. The wrong path can veer right.

I believe it’s the wrong paths, the digging deep, the difficult days and feelings, that help us grow the most.  Take the wrong path.  Learn from it.  Then listen to yourself and take the right path for you.