Be Patient With Your Progress

Joy here. Thanks for showing up. I have a confession, Sometimes, or a lot of the times, I find myself wanting to fast forward. I want to skip to the part where I've finished that creative project, or I've found that person that I'm looking for, or I've achieved that goal at work. I know I'm not alone in this. When we're so excited about where we want to go, it's tough to be patient with ourselves. If we're not making progress, we can get self critical. Like, "Hello, don't you care about this awesome goal you have? Why aren't you finished yet?" But I'm here to remind you we all go through seasons of progress. We can't give 100% to our goals all the time because life happens. Our priorities shift, our energy changes, or we're just not that into it right now, and all of this is okay. You deserve to be patient with yourself and your growth to feel like you have your back through all the starts, stops, and pauses on the way to where you want to go. Today, I want to practice extending compassion and patience to yourself wherever you are on your journey. Let's begin. Find yourself in a comfy position, whether that's sitting or standing. And gently close your eyes if you can, or just softly lower your gaze. And take a deep breath in. And out. On your next few breaths, try to lengthen them, even if it's just adding another second to each inhale and exhale. See how it feels to intentionally slow down. Breathing in. And out. Breathing in. And out. Now, think of something you are working towards. It could be a promotion at work, or a hobby you're doing in your free time, or building a better relationship with yourself or someone else. Beautiful. Now, I want you to name where you are in this journey. The key thing is to do this honestly and without judgment. Maybe it's still just an idea marinating in your head, or you've done a little bit of work, or the finish line is right around the corner. Take this moment to be honest with yourself about your progress so far. All right. Now, I want you to imagine a dear friend in your shoes, with the same goal, same progress made so far, someone you care about deeply and want to support. What words of compassion or care would you say to them? Maybe, "I'm proud of you for having this goal in mind," or, "You are doing the best you can, and that's enough." Take the next few moments to send them some words of compassion. All right, I hope that felt good. It's easy to be hard on ourselves, to expect ourselves to be making progress all the time. But you deserve to extend the same compassion and patience you give others to yourself, because wherever you are on your journey is enough. Let's take a final deep...