“Overthinking does not have to prohibit you from achieving your goals or taking care of your responsibilities. It’s okay to have concerns and want to think thoroughly through everyday challenges, but instead of overthinking take action while also prioritizing your mental health.”
Create your own poem in the comments below or join this prompt and participate on The Mighty here.
From not knowing what types of goals to make to racking up the motivation and will power to follow through with goals, we all know that setting goals can be challenging. Depending on how important that goal or task is to us can determine whether we engage with the process of achieving that goal.
What is your biggest challenge when setting goals?-What is the challenge you face?
-Why is the challenge difficult to overcome?
-How can you overcome that challenge?
The biggest challenge I face when setting goals is making sure my goals are manageable. I tend to make professional goals that are “big” and take more than one step to achieve.
To help myself from procrastinating or abandoning these goals, I can maybe focus more on creating smaller goals I can accomplish in a shorter amount of time.
Join this prompt’s conversation here on The Mighty.
In a rapidly changing world where “normal” is being redefined and challenged, it feels different and strange to imagine what we once knew as everyday life shifting. It’s mind-boggling to think we are adjusting and adapting. But, what are we adapting and adjusting to? Big buzzwords, for those of us who have been quarantined or stuck at home and even those essential workers going out risking their health every day, are fear, anxiety, productivity, motivation, worth, and purpose.
As we ponder and navigate who we are during this exhausting period in history, I caution us to be gentle with ourselves and take a step back. Give ourselves time to understand that it’s okay to take a minute or more to slow down. Even with our everyday responsibilities, reflection and self-care are necessary. We are not living the same way we were last year or even a few months ago. We do not have to pile on expectations and lists of things to do. We also can give ourselves permission to prioritize our mental and physical health; make goals, and shorten our lists to things that mean something to us.
Note: Don’t be afraid to put yourself first.
Take a moment to jot down your needs and personal goals. How will you self-care today? Have you been checking in with your feelings and mental state?
It’s okay to take a step back.
You define what is best for you.
Sometimes it’s hard to remember the thoughts we try to forget about. That one childhood memory that brings everything back or even the ones that happened just last year. And even though we thought it was behind us, in a split second it’s staring us in the face. The feelings flood back and so does the pain, frustration, and confusion, too. Sometimes it’s easier to avoid the memory and pretend it’s not real, to repress it, of course, so we don’t have to feel.
But, as hard as it is to relive those painful memories, the ones we avoid with every part of us, they resurface.
Those memories are telling us to feel them. Without feeling them and processing how they shaped us, we hold that pain within our bodies. We often see those memories wanting to come out; in our dreams, our behavior, through our fears. To process pain and memories is to honor and love ourselves. We are not meant to hold baggage and to suffer unnecessarily. We do not live to suffer, although it seems this way.
Process the memories and express how they made you feel. What did you learn from that memory? How do you see yourself moving on from it?
Empowerment is the constant processing of pain, thoughts, and perspectives into ambition, potential, action, and advocacy. Our stories are what empowers us.
One of the many exiting additions for my group, The Pencil Case, on The Mighty, is Pencil Case Prompts.
The goal of these prompts will be to to think, reflect, contemplate and share.
I will be sharing these prompts here on SparklyWarTanks with a link to the post on The Mighty!
Note: Pencil Case prompts are journaling prompts you can use for personal journaling or to answer in the comments for The Pencil Case Prompts posts. The prompt will always have two follow up question: What and Why to help us turn our thinking caps on!
Prompt 1
One thing that helps me to keep going is to remember random moments where I felt good. Some of those moments are moments where I accomplished/achieveved something and felt proud of myself or recalling my talents and things only I can do the way I do it.
Activity
What is an accomplishment, achievement or talent you are proud of?
Note: There is nothing too big or too small to mention as an accomplishment, achievement, or talent.
Reflection
I know I mention this ALL THE TIME but I’m so proud of myself for 1. starting my brand and 2. expanding my brand to Motivation by SparklyWarTanks.
There was a point in my life where I didn’t think I would be anything or do anything worth mentioning. Being able to continuously work on something helps me in my darkest loneliest moments to remind myself that I CAN do what I SAY I can do.
Join this prompt’s conversation on The Mighty here.
“Because isolation can negatively impact our mental health, influence spirals of negative thoughts, negative self-talk, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and loneliness; understanding power, control, productivity, and expectations can redefine and reshape how we approach each day. How can we recreate, readjust, and adapt to this new form of living? How can we prioritize our mental health?…
Note: Self-care is personal and can change based on our day to day needs. Whatever we find is the best/most helpful way to cope can only be defined by us.”
**Note: Voices of Mental Health is now called Everyday Mental Wellness.
“By utilizing active meditation techniques, it’s possible to not only incorporate meditation during our everyday schedule but also increase awareness and become mindful of our present self. By understanding our body and needs, we are able to appreciate the power of having and making choices on a moment by moment basis. Having choices reminds us of who we are and what we are capable of.”
Reminder: Check out my certifications tab to see all I learned and the link to the mindfulness course I took!
“Self-acceptance is a process with no time limit or expectation. We are always growing, evolving, and learning. Once we’ve reflected and asked ourselves important questions to grow in self-awareness, we can now put our continuous acceptance into practice.”
Without the hustle and bustle of an everyday routine of “work, ” it can become draining and confusing to figure out what purpose means. Because we’re used to linking who we are to what we “do” we often forget that we aren’t what we do, we simply…are. We exist and that, in itself, is purpose.
Awareness of the present “self” is appreciating all that “we are” in the absence of work. Who are we when we are not working or performing tasks? How can we bask in the simplicity of being?
Note: Focusing our attention on “doing” dictates our actions and goals to define success as accomplishments achieved only by something we can perform through our behaviors and actions. Therefore, when we are not actively “doing” much of anything we lose our sense of self and purpose. Shifting our focus to “being” allows us to appreciate existing when we are not/cannot “do” anything.
Acknowledging that we have worth and value, not because of “what” we do but because of “who” we are (already) helps us to understand our fundamental “being.”
Affirmation Challenge: When waking up every morning, begin by affirming and manifesting the words, “I am.” By understanding that “doing” doesn’t define purpose, we can view our expectations of ourselves with gentleness, approaching each day with gratitude and grace. Existing and living how best we can outweigh the constant assumption of having to do more to fill our sense of self.
Reminder: It’s okay if some days are difficult to even get out of bed. Those days are our “being” days. It’s okay to focus on being.
