How many times have you come to terms with the fact that you just need to ~trust the process~ and yet, you find it painfully hard to stay in that mindset?
I’ll admit that I can be really impatient. God has definitely been testing me frequently with getting comfortable with waiting, and trusting the timing of life.
We have our own ideas on what should happen––and when. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come to understand why things needed to happen the way that they did, but it’s always something you see in retrospect. And when you’re in the moment, anticipating the change, it’s difficult to get in this state of mind.
I’ve had talks with my coach lately about the idea of moving through life with trust, instead of focusing on my feelings of insecurity. I’m exploring the idea of going through life as though I can 100% trust that I am fully loved and appreciated and that the universe has my back, as Gabby Bernstein would say.
When I believe that, I move differently. I feel safe to be who I am and improve in areas that I want to improve on –– without spending all my energy wondering and searching for validation from others to feel I’m worthy.
When we don’t feel accepted, we find it difficult to improve ourselves. We’re constantly second-guessing our value and asking others to tell us that we’re good enough. But when we do that, we give away our personal power.
So here are the things I’m working on this month with the theme of trust in mind:
1. Asking myself, “What else could be true?”
One of the most transformative books for me when I got into personal growth was Byron Katie’s “Loving What Is” on Audible. She walks you through a four question prompt for when you’re feeling unhappy or angry or stuck or confused. Here are the tools you can use to go through this process.
See also: 5 Steps for Breaking Past Your Conditioned Beliefs
2. Responding instead of reacting
What happened last time when I didn’t trust? How did that go?
When you’re in a pattern, it’s important to recognize the way things have played out in the past –– particularly when you have a ton of data from past experience to look back on. Play out the scenario in your head. If I react like x, y will happen. Do I want that? How else can I react instead?
Think about how the situation could go if you just trust that if you come at this situation with love, it will go better than how you instinctually want to react.
I’m working on this, because I have a really toxic habit of reacting from emotional places when I feel hurt and it does not go well.
If you also struggle with this, there’s a podcast episode on Gal Pals on this topic, which I recommended in a recent goalsletter (sign up for that here).
3. Meditating
I’ve been slow to adding meditation into my routine, but I’m now working on implementing it regularly. To get specific, I usually feel tired after my work commute, so I plan to start meditating for 10 minutes or so when I get home from work –– instead of taking a quick nap. Whenever I take a nap, even if it’s less than 30 minutes, it can be harder to fall asleep later on –– which is a no go for my morning routine.
4. Using a Fitness Goal Tracker
One of the most important ways for me to establish more trust is to build it within myself. I want to be the kind of person that I can trust to do what I say I’m going to do. I have lots of experience in letting myself down –– and it takes practice to start earning my own trust back. It is like when you break trust with a partner. When we don’t believe that we’ll actually do something, we start to doubt our ability to accomplish our goals.
My friend, Tessie Tracy, has a fitness tracker out that helps you track your progress with all your wellness goals in a really healthy way. While I love structure, I never really have set goals with my fitness and I’m in a place right now where I think that would be helpful.
One simple goal that I have for August so far is to run a full 5k. I workout a few times a week consistently, but I don’t run often and I haven’t ran a 5k without walking.
Those are my trust-centered intentions for August! What are you working on this month?
