Losing Some Steam on Following Your Dream? 3 Tips to Reinvigorate Your Efforts

All your internal junk, bad habits and limiting beliefs are rushing towards you at full speed, creating serious doubts about whether what you want is possible. You feel a bit paralyzed. The optimism is steadily draining. Constantly trying to move out of your comfort zone, battling your old limiting beliefs, dealing with unsupportive people and contending with your fears makes you feel so damn uncomfortable most of the time, and you are sick of it.

You consider reverting to your old life—you reason with yourself maybe it wasn’t so bad, and the thought of slipping back into something familiar is very appealing. Maybe it wasn’t so great, but at least you know what to expect; you don’t have to work to achieve anything, you will just settle for what you already have—no more uncomfortable feelings.

You probably feel really shitty right now, so shitty you just want to say f@#$ it. That cynical part of you is kicking into overdrive. People who work so hard to be happy and ‘follow their dream’ are a bunch of suckers who are living in denial about the ‘real world.’ It is far safer to be a cynical, negative bastard who lets life drag him around by the balls. By never going after what he wants, he never has to be disappointed. It is far easier to adopt a victim mentality, than take true responsibility.

But, even though you may kind of feel that way now, that is not how you truly feel, and that is not who you truly are. You know the truth. You know life can be more than that.

I know all too well what this feels like because I have been there, multiple times during my own little journey. If you are lucky, you will only go through this rough patch once, but there is a good chance you will go through it on multiple occasions, as I am sure many of you reading this have already experienced firsthand.

But, the good news is, you are not alone. This happens to pretty much everybody who really takes a drastic departure from their current life to build the one they truly want. And, it doesn’t have to defeat you; you can work through it, and get back to the happy, enthusiastic version of yourself, the version who knows what you want is possible, and will stay the course.

Know It Is Okay to Feel This Way

While we know no one is perfect, and we will likely face obstacles on the path to our ideal life, on a deeper level, there is this part of us that expects the exact opposite. In our efforts to improve ourselves, we kind of have this idea we will become this perfect Buddha-like being bursting at the seams with wisdom, always being happy, never, ever, ever expressing negative emotions and completely ridding ourselves of our bad habits and behaviors.

We think that if we plan carefully enough, and do our work with LOA, the road to our dream life will be smooth-sailing. Things will just line up for us effortlessly. We will never feel doubt about our path, or feel afraid.

But, it usually doesn’t play out this way, and that is okay. Having doubts doesn’t mean you are making the wrong decision. Feeling like giving up sometimes doesn’t mean you chose the wrong path. If you haven’t totally rid yourself of your ‘flaws,’ it doesn’t mean there is no hope for you, or you can’t get what you want until you become ‘perfect.’ Not feeling happy all the time doesn’t mean you are incapable of becoming a ‘happy’ person. Being happy is not about crafting a life free of anything about which to be ‘unhappy.’

All the shitty stuff you are feeling right now is very normal. It is okay. It doesn’t mean you have made some terrible mistake or you are doing something terribly wrong. It is easy to look at people who have already achieved the things you hope to achieve and assume they must not have faced the same challenges, or are somehow superior to you in some way. But, there is a pretty good chance they felt all the same exact things you are feeling now.

By accepting these unpleasant feelings, and not trying to resist them, you can relieve much of the mental suffering you are currently experiencing. Sure, you certainly don’t like feeling this way, and you are not exactly embracing the experience with open arms, but you can reduce the intensity of the whole thing by accepting whatever you are going through at this moment as normal. Don’t get mad at yourself for being mad; don’t get all anxious about feeling anxiety.

Always Go Back to Your ‘Why’

There is a reason you want the things you want—they will give you the feelings you find most desirable, like happiness, freedom, fulfillment and peace of mind. When you find yourself losing a bit of steam, revisiting your ‘why’ can give you the boost you need to keep going, to change your perspective to one that is more empowering and conducive to achieving your goals.

Now, the preceding paragraph was written with the assumption you have clearly defined your ‘why.’ But, in the event you haven’t, we’ll just discuss that a bit right now, because it is uber-important. Because there is a good chance many of you haven’t really gotten to the core of your desires, and skipping this step will screw with your efforts tremendously. Your desires may be a bit fuzzy or vague; you may have only scratched the surface.

The more deeply you define why you want the things you want, the more insight you will get into your core values and desires—the things most important to you. Once these elements have been defined, you will never be able to live a life that does not include them; you will do whatever it takes to get the things you want.

You will have gained a deeper knowledge about yourself, what you want and who you want to be, and this insight is crucial to staying on your path. A clearly defined ‘why’ helps dispel the doubts that will inevitably pop up, increases your confidence in making the decisions you know will move you towards what you want, gives you the courage to follow your path regardless of what other people think about your decisions and will get you through these moments when you want to just throw in the towel.

Get out a piece of paper and write down why you want the things you want right now. And then list out why you want each of those things. And then why you want those things. Keep going until you can’t go anymore.

If you want more money, why? Because it will give my kids a better life. Why do you want them to have a better life? Because the crushing poverty of my childhood caused me so much pain and made my life so hard; and I never want to jeopardize my child’s well-being, or have them miss out on opportunities to better their life because of lack of money.

See where I’m going with this? Just wanting more money is a great intention, and an understandable one. But, do you see how if you never give deep thought to that original desire, how you could easily give up when times got tough?

Just Focus on Feeling Good

Do whatever you can to shift your energy to a higher place; maybe that might mean stepping away from your ‘goal’ for a bit, and that is okay. There is no sense in forcing yourself to do things when you feel like utter crap. While you don’t want to get off course for months and months, it is okay to take a little break, or scale back if that means bringing your vibe back up.

Think about the effect of your mood on how you view your life. One day you are in a horrible mood, and everything about your life sucks; the next day, you are in a better mood, and you feel completely differently, even though nothing has changed in that 24-hour period. It is all perspective.

How we feel is everything—it sets the stage for what we attract into our life; it determines how easily the things we want come into our physical experience. Just feeling good can make wonderful things happen for you, without you taking any specific actions at all. Feeling good will shift your perspective, and reinvigorate your efforts. Simply taking time to raise your energy is no trivial task; it is not wasted time that should instead be spent on ‘hard work.’

I hope this post has given you some helpful advice for dealing with a very unpleasant situation; but, remember, you are not alone in this struggle. Other people have been where you are, and they got through it, which means you can get through it too. Don’t abandon the things you want and the person you want to be—getting there may be a bit of a bumpy road, but it will be worth it. I promise.