A little note about hope and me

I don’t think we talk about enough how hope and belief in a better future is such an important part of a wellbeing journey.

This came into my head yesterday after going snowboarding and I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and then it came up on a few of my client Check ins this morning too. Such good timing.

Yesterday was the 7th week in a row we went, and the big news was that I wasn’t dreading it. I think this is due to a number of reasons, but more sleep and a change to my training schedule (a reduction to give me more energy for boarding) had me feeling more positive about putting myself out there.

Anyway- I wasn't dreading it. I mean, I wasn’t looking forward to it either! But feeling neutral about it was noticeably different.

And it was good and I enjoyed it, and I’m so bloody pleased because for the last 4 weeks or so it’s been really hard and I’ve really not wanted to go. If it hadn’t been for Kev, and the accountability and support he was giving me me, I definitely wouldn’t have.

So- why did I continue going even though I was hating it?

Because I believed it would get better. I trusted it would. And because I know (due to previous experience) that with practice I can improve how I do things.

And yesterday I had a shift - demonstrating this IS the case. I’m so happy I stuck at it. I’m so happy I turned up for myself regardless of how I was feeling every week. I do feel quite proud actually.

I mean clearly I still have a hugely long way to go, but I remain hopeful and optimist and I honestly think I work on that mindset everyday.

I believe in the power of positive change. I believe in goodness , and I believe that my daily gratitude practice has a lot to do with me fostering that sense of hope and optimism.

I believe things will get better if I work at them. And I look to the experience and knowledge of more learned & experienced others to guide and teach me on this. People who’ve done it before, gone through it already.

For those who like more concrete concepts, I believe that I’ve built confidence in my own ability to do things by learning to turn up for myself when things get hard, and choosing the hard option because I KNOW that’s where growth lies.

Doing the easy thing is never going to be the thing that moves you forward and creates inner growth.

I’m not talking about being perfect, but I am talking about healthy striving and aiming high and having high personal standards.

It’s not been easy for me to commit to my training. It was not easy for me to deal with my emotional eating. It felt scary as heck to work on my relationship with food. Learning to rest has not been easy for me. Creating boundaries surrounding my work has been incredibly challenging for me. Understanding that my worth is not linked to my scales weight was not easy. Believing that my thinnest self was not my happiest self took hard, deep work. Reevaluating what success meant asking myself some really hard questions.

But now I’ve really focused on what hard I want to be doing. The hard that if I’m not my authentic self, I’d be having to pretend or not be myself. Or the hard that gets me to be a more real and fulfilled version of myself where I thrive with joy and connection.

Choosing the hard path is where growth happens, and the hope of growth and a more thriving and full life that I won’t regret when I’m 80 is what drives me to do that.

Love to chat about getting you feeling more hopeful about change. It’s infectious! Email me Beth@movemehappy.me to chat.

PS. I’m still plugging away at my podcast- still finding that hard, but feel like I’m slowly making progress too. Every so often I get some lovely and helpful feedback which inspires me to keep going. You can listen on Spotify here for free if you fancy it.