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Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

When navigating mental challenges it is important to adjust your compass to suit your new state. Firstly, an analogy...

When a jet liner takes off for a destination, it doesn't fly in a straight line from A to B. The winds, storms in the area, weather events etc all make a difference and constantly throw it off course. The same applies to a ship and other vehicles. But they constantly adjust for these things with technology and knowledge, and before you know it, they land/dock/arrive at the destination on time.

You see the destination is an end point and is fixed. Yet, how you get there is a variable. The same applies in life. When things are going well for us, we cruise, meaning we don't think much about life, we just follow the same old routines...going to work, paying bills, pick up the kids, take them to school, dinner yada yada... But life is never stagnant. In fact, you cannot stay still even if you try to (you are on a planet that is spinning at over a thousand kms an hour and hurtling through space at 30,000 kmh, so good luck with staying still homie.

Because life is constantly changing, we get thrown off course on a regular basis. That doesn't matter - it is normal. Sometimes though, the balance gets so far off, we find ourselves feeling overwhelmed and over a period of time (relative to the emotional impact of said balance wobbler) we begin to lose our confidence and perceived ability to cope.

When you were a baby, walking was not a breeze like it is now. As a matter of fact, you had to try, try and try some more and probably fell down so many times you got a sore nose! But you did what you could with what you knew at the time and built up with each try, then it suddenly happened and you were officially a 'walker' (texas ranger...sorry! 😋). But that baby only had a little bit of knowledge. Know you're all growed up, you know a lot more. So you try to approach life again from what you know now, but from a limited mental state and...fall down.

Here's the cool bit: Every step forward, no matter how small, is a win. So, when it seems too hard, set a teeny tiny goal. Example: I want to get off my chuff and get walking...I don't want to walk, stuff it, what's on telly? Nup. How about, forget the walk - too big a goal...lets go for one leg through the shorts....ah, I can do that. Follow that with the other leg, put one in front of the other and voila, you're walking. I'm not being a smartarse at all - I am saying, keep breaking your goal down into itty bitty pieces you can do and all those itty bitties add up and before you know it, you have achieved the big goal and feel better about yourself. Your self-esteem is in the green and you have saved a pants size too by not eating that slice of cake you were eyeing up instead.

Why not give it a try?

Icaruslanded

@Taali @Lapis_Anteater @MissGremlin @hopeful_hannah

9 replies

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In response to: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

Re: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

I hear you- like today when I had no energy. Today I still went for a short walk and did some of my strength exercises- half the exercises using half the usual weight has to better than nothing. Sometimes we have to respect our journey with smaller steps.

In response to: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

Re: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

Hey @Free2025 glad this works for you. Most people give themselves a hard time for not being able to do what is considered easy...when life is easy, but the reality is, when resources are tight, you ration 'em like they did in the war! Another way of saying, realise you have more limited resources at the time and work within those. Hope you are doing better.

In response to: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

Re: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

Not bad @Icaruslanded 

In response to: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

Re: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

What are your thoughts.... brick by brick is that recovery focused through addiction and step by step similar? @Icaruslanded 

In response to: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

Re: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

Just keep chipping away? @Icaruslanded 

In response to: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

Re: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

@Dk5 Hello! Yes, tiny steps, little celebrations. When you look at a tv picture on the screen you are looking at the sum total of thousands of tiny red green and blue lights, organised in different microvoltages to make up a total picture. We seldom think of the tv picture for what it actually is though - a composite of thousands of small things to achieve something remarkable. It is the same with overcoming challenges - most people try to do too much all at once, which, for the most part, is unattainable, and so they sink back down. Whereas, small steps forward, consistently, and celebrated for their own contribution, create a palace for us of our own making, over time my friend.

As a fun aside, I have created many virtual worlds, mostly using Minecraft. Although I do not actually play the game itself, I do enjoy creating full cities. My last (and probably final one - done nine overall) was made up of thousands and thousands of cubes...I don't know how many in total. But, if you scaled them up to real size (1 metre x 1 meter x 1 meter) , it would be the equivalent of 70 square kilometres. They are working cities too - 'people' live in them, they have working railway lines (mine carts), even a substantial underground, waterways and other features....last one took me eighteen months to build...one 'brick' at a time I am a geek lol

In response to: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

Re: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

@Dk5 Sorry, have only just seen this message. It would apply to any form of change. Addiction is a gradual process that takes over a person. Because of this, it is built 'brick by brick' too. A gradual decrease or absense of the cause of the addiction then, and, importantly, rewarding yourself for the small achievements along the way, can really help to break the cycle. I think with a lot of addictions, the emotional desire is so strong it can be very hard for people to overcome, so the small rewards along the way are very important. I would further add here, if you can emotionally make the reward for being free of the addiction greater than the desire to continue with what is causing the addictee pain, that makes the whole process easier. They would gradually return to a place of self-love, and away from the place of self-hate caused by the addiction, yes? Also, many times we do for others we care deeply for can be more powerful than those sacrifices we might make for ourselves. This is 'artillery' we can use to win the battle. I hope this helps.

In response to: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

Re: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

@Icaruslanded .... priitty cool

In response to: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

Re: Brick by brick, step by step, tiny movements forward....

@Icaruslanded ..... thanks man. "Keep chippen away" small little steps equal big moves

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