The Voice Heard Crunching Underfoot

The journey of a thousand miles
begins with one step.” ~ Lao Tzu ~

Crunch, crunch, crunch was the only sound heard while I walked across the snow covered landscape. The sun was bright and there was just a hint of wind blowing the cold in my face.

Void of all other sounds, the crunching of snow underfoot seemed especially loud. Of course, nothing could have been louder than the voice in my head.

I love snow. The stark white laying softly on everything in sight is cleansing and encourages creativity. Start over with something new and refreshing. Do something you’ve never done before and do it boldly without fear. That’s part of the message I hear in snow.

We become what we think about.” ~ Earl Nightingale ~

8 Steps To Starting Over New And Fresh

Since everything begins in your mind, woven in and out of all your thoughts, it only makes sense that the first step of any journey is an invisible step within your brain.

The mind is a powerful organ.

Even while the crunching snow under my boots seemed to deafen me, the voice in my mind was easily heard. That very familiar voice is soft, yet it can penetrate all other noise no matter where I am or what I’m doing.

Starting anything new causes many emotions to blossom within you. No matter what journey is beginning, there can still be fear, apprehension, excitement, worry or happiness to name just a few. Often FEAR can be the one emotion that will wreck the whole journey.

Fear can be so paralyzing that you may not even begin the new journey.

Fear of what?

Oh, it’s just a little thing called the fear of failure.

Many of life’s failures
are experienced by people
who did not realize
how close they were
to success when they gave up.” ~ Thomas Edison ~

What if Thomas Edison had feared failure so much that he never attempted any scientific inventions? It’s possible that we still might not have lightbulbs and would be reading by candlelight.

No lightbulbs?!

Yeah, that would make my life awfully different!

So what must happen in order to start fresh and new?

1. Stop everything. Take at least one day to totally disconnect from everyone and everything. Basically hide from the world. Lock the doors. Don’t answer the phone. Leave the television off. Keep the music off too.

2. During that day calm down enough to find a bit of peace. Roll around in it for awhile until the peacefulness starts to feel familiar and rather comfortable.

3. Brainstorm.
   • What do you want to start over?
   • Why do you want to start over?
   • What are some obstacles to prevent a smooth start?
   • How many ways are there to make the new start happen?
   • What are the benefits of starting over?
   • What are some of the negatives to starting over?
   • What do you need to start over?
   • Who will be for and against the new start?
   • What will you tell everyone about the new start?
   • When would you like to start over?

    
   Let your mind run all over the place with ideas that are completely rational to ideas that verge on the ridiculous. Write them all down. You must record them!

4. Very methodically go through each of your brainstormed ideas. Which will bring you the most long term happiness? Whittle down the list until you’re left with just a few very basic and solid ideas for starting over.

5. Make detailed plans with lots of options. If Plan A doesn’t work, move to Plan B, then Plan C if necessary. Give yourself plenty of room to make the dream of a fresh start become reality.

6. Tell a few people you are close to about your plans, but take what they say with a grain of salt. If they are fearful people, they will discourage your plan because it will scare them. It doesn’t matter what anyone says. Believe in your gut instinct. Just do it. Put your plans into action.

7. Be courageously determined. Having courage is doing something that frightens you. Being determined is having a firmness of purpose and intent. With your plans specifically designed for you and by you, resolutely take that first step even though it is scary.

8. Be happy. If your new start isn’t bringing you happiness, scrap it and start over again with a new plan. There is no shame in a failure. There is no shame in false starts. No, indeed, each failure is another opportunity to get it right by doing it differently the next time.

When I let go of what I am,
I become what I might be.” ~ Lao Tzu ~

Ignoring The Voice

When I first started blogging I wrote about how that one night with Scott completely changed my life. Fear robbed me then and it continued to rob me for many years afterward. What if I had just stood up and taken that first step? How different would my entire life be now?

Fear still robs me of happiness and opportunities from time to time, but not nearly as much as it did pre-PTSD days. Conquering the PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) demon gave me a new found confidence in my ability to survive and conquer.

Can fear really make that much of a difference in your life?

The difference in being frightened nearly to death of a new journey versus boldly walking through life viewing the new journey as an opportunity is like the difference in walking through a foot of snow versus walking on a dry sidewalk. Fear makes the journey so much harder!

You may eventually get to the same place, but often fear will cause you to miss opportunities forever.

Let’s not forget the voice in your head. There’s always that voice warning or encouraging you. Sometimes it whispers and at other times it screams.

That voice comes from your mind and it needs constant nurturing, so what are you feeding it – positive, upbeat, inspirational verbiage or negative, fear filled self-talk?

Your words and thoughts make a huge difference in your reality and opportunities.

Ignoring the voice is a very bad practice. That voice is always talking to you because it is you. No one knows you like you do, so believe and trust yourself. Trust that you know what is best for you because you do.

You are an authority on you.

Listen.

Can you hear it?

That’s the sound of your voice encouraging you on your successful journey.

What is it telling you?