It's all just HARD. Life. It's Hard... right?

​It occurred to me the other day – I make things really HARD sometimes. As if I have to struggle to achieve whatever I want in life. Understandably, I value hard work, a strong work ethic, earning your keep, going the extra mile, over preparing, striving for the best… you get the idea. I tend to be pretty hard on myself.

Are you this way? In this post, let’s take a look at:
1.      How do you think things “come” into your life?
2.      What thoughts appear in your mind when you contemplate adding something to your plate?
3.      Is there a way to make things easier?

How things “come” into your life

A few years ago, I was introduced to the idea of manifesting. You all have heard about it, right? You think it, ask, wish, and live your life as if you already have it, then BOOM, it’s there. It’s magical and not at the same time. For instance, I manifested that I could finish a marathon. But, I didn’t just wake up one day and run 26.2 miles. I still needed to take massive action to train for this manifestation to become reality. But, each time I ran, I could picture the finish line of the marathon. I played it over and over again in my head, until it came to be. It was a mindset.

I seem to be pretty good at manifesting the “small” stuff. Green lights, a close parking space, a new lamp. I’ve even been known to manifest some bigger stuff, too. A doctorate degree before I turned 30, opening a business, buying a house, adopting a baby. Again, not without effort and work, but I still decided these things, and then planned and prepared for them to transpire.

But, there are still other things that just seem to remain elusive to me. Losing weight, earning money, being healthy, having a baby, etc. After all, I FEEL like I’m manifesting these things the same way… so what gives??

Or am I?

What thoughts appear in my mind when I contemplate achieving these things?

Here’s the thing: I can manifest these things all day, but what if I have conflicting beliefs?? What if my beliefs sabotage me from ever achieving the goal? What if I didn’t even know I had these beliefs because if you questioned whether I “actually” wanted these manifestations, I’d say, “Of course I WANT this! Why would I do something to stop it??”

Then, I noticed the trend in my thoughts. All these things I haven’t achieved… I think they are HARD. Don’t get me wrong, as you can see from my list above, I’ve done some pretty difficult things. So, in comparison, these “other” things on my list should be within reach. Some may even say they are easier than other things I’ve accomplished.

Ahh, but alas the issue – “easy” is in the eye of the beholder.

Somehow it doesn’t seem to matter than I’ve done harder things. For example, let’s talk about losing weight. It is the New Year, after all, and it tends to be a pretty popular Resolution.

What if all that matters is that I think it’s hard? Let’s break it down like this – if my belief is that losing weight is hard, it’s going to be hard to lose weight.

So, can I still lose it? Maybe. Maybe not. Could my own mindset, my own universal belief that losing weight is hard actually prevent me from losing weight? What if I decide that I can only lose weight if I put in the max amount of effort, and anything less than a struggle will result in me failing? I have to really earn it! Grind out every calorie! Therefore, I’ve decided I need to work twice (or three or four) times as hard to lose weight.

Even though I have manifested losing weight, my values and beliefs related to just how hard I think I have to work – just how much effort I believe need to expend – will determine the outcome of the manifestation. Have my values and beliefs outweighed (ha good time for a pun) my ability to manifest the outcome I want?

Maybe this is how people get stuck. I’ve heard so many times things like, “I can only lose weight if I run… workout an hour every single day… stop eating carbs… use slim fast…” Etc, etc, you fill in the blank. Without this max effort, they will not, under any circumstances, be able to lose weight. Because that is exactly what they have told the Universe.

Is there a way to make things easier?

Well, I’m not exactly sure. I will need to test the theory, but…

What if I decide it isn’t hard? What if I decided it wasn’t a torturous struggle? What if I decided that every time I ate, I make great choices which result in a great result every time I step on the scale? What if I decided that summer dress in my closet will, in fact, fit me by summer? What if I just made a plan, and broke things down a little at a time and DID IT consistently verses deciding that it is overwhelming?

What if I decided losing weight was easy?

Could it be as simple as that? I have to do the work either way, right? Hard… easy… either way, the weight isn’t just falling off with no effort. But, for years, I’ve decided everything about weight loss is hard- finding the time to exercise, the exercise itself, the food restrictions, the healthy habits that I have to implement, the feeling of being hungry, the idea that I’m missing out, the idea that I have to work so very very hard to lose the same as anyone else. So what if I tried it a different way, and decided that it was going to be easy? The worst case scenario is that it’s still hard, right?

I have begun to wonder how it will turn out if I apply this concept to all these other areas of life that I think are HARD…

Maybe things aren’t hard, and I just think they are hard. Maybe I don’t have to work this much, plan as much, expend as much, or give away as much as I BELIEVE that I do. Maybe I have to change my outlook first, and the rest will fall into place. HARD is holding me back.

Look out, 2019. I’m gunning for it! A new mindset. Everything I want to achieve in this life is easy.

I’m going to make it look easy. Because it is. I just decided.
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-        Cheryl