They nip at you like a chihuahua grabbing at your pants’ legs. They hang around like the gnatty gnat aggravating you.
What are you tolerating, and what will you do about it? This is more than procrastination. This is something you carry with you every day.
Most often, the little things drain, overwhelm, and discourage us, just like the chihuahua. And likely, these things have been annoying us for some time, yet we allow them to hang around like those clothes in the back of our closet that we are sure we can wear again in six months — or when they come back in style in a few years.
There are generally five areas of life where you put up with too much:
- Business/career.
- Relationships.
- Finances.
- Health.
- Spiritual/emotional well-being.
The more you tolerate, the less you can accomplish. The things you tolerate keep you from what you’re meant to do. There are many things you can tolerate. They can be actual physical projects or more abstract things. Or you can tolerate your way of life. Or perhaps you are tolerating an attitude, a perspective, or even a lie you — or others — have been telling yourself for years.
Maybe it’s…
- Something you need to finish.
- Finances. You’re sick and tired of never having enough money.
- Something you’ve told someone you would do but have put off.
- Those friends who say their friends but are never there for you when you need them.
- Clutter. In your closet, your house, office, life, job, and mind.
- Negative thoughts or people. Check out Your Fab 5.
- Health. Not taking care of yourself, either mentally, physically, or emotionally. It’s okay if you move to the front of the line sometimes.
- A shoulda, woulda, coulda mindset that yields regret.
- That job you’ve been putting up with. Is it time to dust off the old resume?
- Lies that you believe. You can overcome those lies and myths.
- An unclear future? What’s holding you back?
- Excuses. You can make excuses or make progress.
- Your job, your church, or your life in general.
Whatever it is that’s loitering in your mind, isn’t it time to kick it to the curb once and for all?
Change is an ugly six-letter word, but you must change something today if you want something different tomorrow. Sometimes, it will take only a minute or two. Other times, it may require some focus, thought, and effort. And the reward — and relief — outsize the effort.
The tolerating question is different for everyone. For me, it’s the things I put on the back burner that should be on the front burner. To be transparent, I’m bad at that. While those things sit on the back burner, they’re like hampsters running on the wheel in my brain. It’s always there, whether I’m conducting other business, watching a football game, or sometimes waking up at 2 a.m. Don’t laugh. You have those hamsters running in your brain too.
What are you tolerating? What’s nagging you like the little chihuahua snapping at your pants legs? What have you decided to live with or become so accustomed to hanging onto that has become a weight? Got your answer?
Now that you’ve identified the thing you’re tolerating, here are two final questions:
- What is your wisest next step to overcome it?
- When will you take that step?
You can do this. Don’t take no for an answer, and don’t allow anything to hold you back.