August 26, 2024
“When you get to the place of ‘enough is enough, I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired,’ everything changes.” – Dave Ramsey
Do you ever find yourself trying to fight your frustration, only to end up even more frustrated than when you began?
More than likely, it's because you're fighting the wrong way. The best way to combat your frustration is to make friends with it. Yes, you read that correctly — you must befriend your frustration.
I know that seems counterintuitive, but by making friends with frustration, you can use what's bothering you to your benefit. If you face your frustration instead of trying to flee from it, you'll learn something new about yourself — because usually, frustration indicates that something needs to change.
The human tendency is to stay with the familiar, yet often, frustration is trying to tell you that something doesn't fit anymore. It's a sign that you're growing out of something and being prepared to grow into something else. We feel some frustration to avoid complacency. We would never grow and move toward our best selves if we were always comfortable.
There was a season of my life when I knew that somewhere along the line, parts of the story I was allowing my hands to write were no longer mine—it was getting a little blurry. I knew I needed to face it, yet digging deep to figure it out was something I was unwilling to do. It overwhelmed me since I knew I would be forced to open my eyes differently and make changes.
I kept negotiating “not now” with my inner nudge, clinging to all the “valid “reasons why I could ignore it until I couldn’t. The nudge from within got so intense that I had to face it.
At that moment, I chose to look up, listen, and change the design of my path. I committed to facing what wasn’t working and "reclaiming me.” I had allowed busyness, comfort, fear, and other people's ideas to hijack my life.
The story I was writing was no longer lining up my authentic voice and self. I was off track and needed to be brave enough to allow my hands to start writing different chapters in my life story. It wasn’t a bad story I was in – just no longer mine. I had given someone else my pen, and I needed it back!
Intentionally Own It: Don’t let what you’re afraid of keep you from what you were made for. The next time you feel some frustration, instead of pushing away, push into it and ask, "What am I meant to discover about myself right now, and what new experience will help me discover it?”