Small Steps…

This was my internal dialogue a few nights ago: “When are you going to realize that small, halting steps are just as good as giant leaps, so long as they both take you in the same direction – the direction you want to go? It’s not how fast you get there, so long as you finally get there.”

Have you ever had a goal that seemed so big, so crazy, so audacious, that you could never possibly get there? That’s where I am right now. I’ve made excellent progress on some of my smaller goals, but the biggest, hardest one…yeah, not so much.

I’m an all-in kind of gal. I’m either 100% knock ‘em down, drag ‘em out, stick it out ‘til the end kind of gal. Until I’m not. I’m either all in, or I’m all out. Which can be a fantastic thing when there needs to be decision and action, or a hard stop. But it’s not so great when it means that I create a perfect plan in my mind of how I’m going to get to my goal, and if I can’t follow it exactly as I envisioned it, I end up not doing any part of it at all.

Why do I self-sabotage? I’m going to call it like it is. It’s fear. Fear of what, I’m not exactly sure, but probably a mixture of fear of failure, fear of change, and maybe in a weird way fear of success. Once I reach that goal, then what? When I reach that goal, will it change who I am inside? For better? For worse?

Okay, enough internal paranalysis. (I just made that up. It’s analysis paralysis.)

My point is this: This is where small, baby steps come in. I have to remind myself that taking a small, wobbly step toward a goal is better than standing still and staying stuck in the same place, and then being really frustrated with myself for lack of progress.

I have to choose. What will my priority be? Will I let fear win? What’s most important to me?

So here’s to the small steps. Here’s to courage and bravery; let the progress begin.