Before walking this path if I slipped while trying to work on a goal or practice a new lifestyle I’d throw the whole thing out. One mistake to me meant failure so what was the use in continuing? It would take days, weeks, months, sometimes years before I would try again. If ever. It was all or nothing, and even with the willpower I had, I wasn’t immune to mistakes are slips, and the moment they happened the negative bullshit committee in my head would pipe up, telling me I was a loser, wrong for thinking I could do it and I would never accomplish what I was setting out to do. I would believe those voices and slip back into my depression, undoing what I had begun to accomplish before the slip.
What took me a while to learn was that a slip wasn’t the end of the world, in fact, it is part of the process, or journey, and that sometimes we learn the most, or what we need to from those slips to move forward. Many times when I slipped back into old behavior I realized that it didn’t feel good anymore, or it wasn’t the place I wanted to be, so even when, out of habit or default, I slipped back there, if I didn’t give up, it helped me to keep moving forward, and the further away I got from that old place, the less I wanted to slide back there one more time.
No one ever does things perfectly, the slips are part of the process, and a way we test ourselves to see if we really want what we’re working for, some of us too are a little more defiant than others, and we, even though we know better, rebel against positive changes and try to self-sabotage what we’re working so hard for, and that’s OK too, as long as you get back on track and are able to be honest about the actions you chose to take that slid you back. There is no real timeline, we work at our own pace, and some of us work faster than others, quick or slow, it doesn’t matter, as long as we get to where we are working to get to, or, where we are meant to be.
I used to carry shame when I slipped up, but that was only me punishing myself for not being perfect, no one else was judging me or thinking less of me because I made a mistake, so I had to learn to love myself through the slips, acknowledge them, what my part was, and get up and keep moving on. I have done that for over 13 years now, and each time I’ve gotten up I’ve taught myself that a) I can get up, and b) there’s no shame in the slip up, and that maybe that was something I need to do in order to motivate me to really make some of the bigger changes I needed to make to get me here.
We all have our own journey and own path. No two journeys are alike, and none of them work on the same timeline. Move at your own pace, with love and grace, do the best you can, or what you can, each day, each moment, and never let yourself believe that if you slip you can’t get up again. That slip may just help you get up and get to that place you’ve been working so hard to get to all along. SLAY on!
SLAY OF THE DAY: Do you tend throw away all the work you’ve done if you’ve made a mistake or slipped? Why do you do this? How does that make you feel? What do you tell yourself when you slip? Do you encourage yourself to keep going? Or, do you hurl all kinds of negative insults at yourself? If someone else in your life slipped, what what you say to them? Why don’t you tell yourself those same things when you slip? Do you have a support group, or trusted friends or family, who can support you in those times you slip? Reach out to them if you’re having a time of doubt or negative self-talk, let them love and support you as you get up again. We all slip, that’s not anything to be embarrassed about, but make sure you remember that the important part isn’t the slip, it’s how you got back up.
S – self L – love A – appreciate Y – you
