When we accomplish anything we state we want to do, we turn into a 6-year-old who is peddling a bike and noticing their parents let go 5 to 10 feet ago. There is nothing wrong with the feeling of accomplishment followed up with juvenile celebration. We all have that inner child in us. The emotion is a mixture of excitement, amazement, and liberation. The excitement is because of the promise you made to yourself coming to fruition. The other two have darker explanations.

Why are we amazed? A person is only amazed when surprised or shocked. We didn’t see ourselves doing what we set out to do. We didn’t see it because of repeated failed attempts or never giving ourselves the chance to fail. Why are we experiencing feelings of liberation? The feelings tell us we were confined or oppressed. We don’t think about it like that, but we were in that position before doing what we set out to do. Think of the bike. We were excited that we were “big” kids now. We were amazed because the day before, we couldn’t stay upright on the bike. We were liberated. We can now ride a bike when it once was not an option, confining us to our two feet.

We are doing it. We are working out, investing, budgeting, learning, putting ourselves out there via whatever our specific task is at the moment. We don’t know just how many opportunities open up when we move forward. We’ve become experts at talking because it takes little to no effort. There is no chance of failure. Everything plays out perfectly. No roadblocks. No compromises.No starting over. We need to attempt to break out of the comfort of talking. Talking enables procrastination. Talking also gives us immediate gratification while accomplishing nothing.

We should be extra careful of what we allow ourselves to perpetuate in our lives. Once we get over this hump, we realize the time wasted, the lies told to ourselves, and how much further we could have been. Great, we finally get over a roadblock to beat ourselves up about how long we took to do it. No, instead of beating ourselves up, we can use it as fuel and knowledge. The fuel to keep going. The knowledge to move faster. We don’t need to physically or mentally move faster. We simply remove the procrastination, ridding any ill thoughts of taking too long in the future. Awesome. So, we should be okay now. We are doing it. Wait. Everything we have touched on has been internal. How do we handle the external question of “You’re actually doing it?”

The first question “how are we hearing it?” Do we hear the excitement, doubt, or judgment in the question? The second question is who is asking? A co-worker we wouldn’t speak to in passing if seen out in public or a spouse? Is a child asking or a mentor? In the beginning, all of this can throw us in different directions. Thoughts from the feeling of invincibility to thinking we should have never started. It’s tough. We are aware of all the internal battles we had to get through to get to this point, but people tend to react with none of that in mind. Some people have no filter, others are haters, and the rest don’t know what to say, but think you expect them to say something and we get what we get.

When it comes to us deciding to do anything, it is okay to seek external input. It is not a necessity. Over time we realize that external input is a crap shoot. It doesn’t affect the possibility of success or failure. There are too many variables to get anything consistent out of the input. With this understood, we liberate ourselves. We arm ourselves with enough internal power that everything external is just noise.

In closing, congratulate yourself on all moves for the positive. At times, a step back is required to adjust and move forward further than we have ever reached. Never doubt yourself because of the words of someone outside of yourself. They don’t have the requisite information to make a statement that has power over your future. External feedback in regards to our moves is just opinion.

No one lives the same life. No one can fathom what another person is capable of accomplishing. At times, we have no idea of what we are capable of doing. The best thing we can do is tune out the outside noise and keep moving forward because it is us that are actually doing it. Everyone else can enjoy the show.

Food for thought…You do the Dishes.