Grappling with Goals

The pathway along my soaping journey has been a winding one to say the least-I've had setbacks. Setbacks, that in retrospect have amounted to "me" getting in my own way-by this I mean I've often listened to the voice that is afraid, the voice that says "what if", the voice that is even a little afraid of actually doing well.

Not too awfully long ago, I was expressing some "what if" scenarios to someone I greatly admire for her immensely confident ways, and she simply and wisely replied, "sounds like a lot of what if's." I have to say at the very moment I knew she was right, and now when I catch myself "what iffing" I gently remind myself "sounds like a lot of what ifs."

Now, most people would view "setbacks" as a negative thing. Some people would even equate setbacks to "failure," but recently while reading Reposition Yourself Living Life Without Limits-I had an "ah ha" moment of epic proportions. I knew the following words were true, and that I was/am experiencing this in my own life-right here and now.

"Like an arrow caught in a bow, most people go backward before they shoot forward. What do you do when you see the goal,but you keep losing ground?"

"It is normal to retract before release.If you take a common garden hose and temporarily restrict the flow of water by bending it, the force of water will be all the greater when you straighten it out. In a similar way, those of us who have experienced setbacks in life often release and shoot farther because of the setback and not in spite of it."

"Albert Einstein flunked out of school. Les Brown was evaluated as mentally challenged. Millionaires are born out of bankruptcies. Moses was called to speak but couldn't talk. Sometimes what makes us insecure and vulnerable becomes the fuel we need to be overachievers. The antidote for snakebite is made from the poison, and the thing that made you go backward is the same force that will push you forward."

In a nutshell," Without the retraction, the release doesn't have the same impact."

As I am writing this I have to say I feel a bit anxious about it-some would say "it's not good business to admit your shortcomings" but I believe in being real. I feel certain there are lots and lots of folks who've felt the same sort of trepidation about moving forward, taking risks-putting themselves out there.