Start Giving Yourself More Credit.

I have found that a consistent morning routine is one of the most beneficial things that I can do for my mental health. Waking up 2 hours before the family, going for a 30 minute run, maybe fitting in lifting weights for 30 mins, meditating, and journaling puts me in a great mindset and sets me up to handle what the day throws at me. Spending that time with myself without any distractions is invaluable. Lately though, I haven’t been getting up early. I’ve been running, but not early in the morning or as much as I want to. I’ve been lifting, but not as often as I want to be. I haven’t been meditating or journaling. My early morning routine has been non-existent. I’ve chosen being comfortable over putting in the hard work and grinding even though I know how much it helps me. I’ve been disappointed in myself. I’ve been feeling intimidated by the grind. I’ve been feeling too weak for the grind. I’ve been feeling like I’m not good enough for the grind. I’ve been making excuses. I’ve been procrastinating. I’ve been falling short of my goals and expectations for myself.

During times like these, I forget how much I’ve had to work for in my life, how much I’ve had to grind to overcome the odds stacked against me.

When I was 19, people wrote me off as a complete failure, as someone who had thrown their life away, that I wasn’t ever going to amount to anything. I really can’t blame them. I had f*cked up in the most unimaginable way. The ramifications of the mistake that I made are indescribable. To even call it a mistake is a gross insult to all of those affected by it, those hurt by it (for those who are unfamiliar with this part of my life, I plan to go deeper into it and will share more in a future post).

I made sure that I was going to prove those people wrong. As I laid in a hospital bed less than 4 weeks away from the start of the fall semester at MSU and said that I was still going that semester, people laughed. Those close to me said that I shouldn’t go, that it was too much for me to take on. Others said that I wouldn’t make it, that I would fail and drop out. I was in East Lansing 3 weeks later, on crutches. From there I put it all into the grind & was named to the Dean’s List that semester and eventually went on to graduate from Michigan State University.

I’ve been written off by others, and even myself, at various times in my life. Without me putting work into the grind, those people would have been right. I put the work in to prove them, and even myself at times, wrong. I would not be where I am today without putting in the work to achieve goals and overcome the odds.

This morning, I was back at my morning routine after reminding myself what I’m capable of.

We often feel not good enough to achieve our goals or overcome the adversity that we are facing. We often feel too weak to put the work in. It’s in those times that we don’t give ourselves enough credit, that we don’t recognize that we have accomplished far greater goals or beaten greater odds in our lives. When you feel that you are not good enough, or too weak, look back on your life and think of the times that you’ve beaten the odds, where you shut up your naysayers. In doing that you’ll see that you are a bigger badass than you realize, a badass that can put the work in to demolish whatever you set your mind to.

#adversity #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #selfimprovement