Trusting Life's Process: Learning Patience with Oneself

My Lovelies 😘❤️,

Isabelle here! Welcome back to another week here at PawzandProse.blog and to another post. It’s lovely, as always, to be able to spend this special time together with you! I hope this week’s post will inspire all of you who are joining us, whether for the first time or for the 5th time. I’m hoping after you receive this post that, you will please help me spread this message to friends and loved ones who need this gentle reminder and a little bit of love from Athena and I. It’s a message that I believe we hear quite often but have an easier time accepting for anyone else but ourselves… Ahem I speak out of experience Ahem. If you’re wondering my lovelies, today we’re going to be discussing the importance of having patience with ourselves.

As usual, I will be going off on one of my important tangents here: #shockednotshocked #asifwedidntseeitcoming LOL 😆😂. I have shared with you in a past post that I have recently started focusing on my fitness and have joined a gym. I still find I consider myself a #gymenthusiast and not quite a #gymrat yet, but that’s beside the point, I wanted to share with you another life lesson that this hobby has taught me, and that is the art of patience and kindness with myself. You see, when you start a fitness/gym journey, you don’t transform in a day. First, you must begin with building up endurance (no matter how much your mind wants, your body will not be able to lift 40, 50, 60, or 80 lbs. on day one… you have to build up your stamina, strength, and resistance to be able to lift that much). Also, depending on where you start, you will more than likely need to go through the process of losing body weight before you begin the process of toning. Then, once you start that process, it’s going to take a while before you get to your “desired” or “ideal” weight. Finally, there’s going to come a time when you’re not going to be going to the gym to lose weight or tone but to maintain your weight.

My lovelies, what I just described to you is called a PROCESS… that’s exactly what the gym is, and guess what… so is life! So is this journey we’re all on. This gets me thinking about why, as humans, we have such double standards. Why it’s so easy, for example, to tell someone to “keep preserving” on their journey (i.e., with the slow process of the gym telling people, “You can do it,” “You’re looking great,” “keep going, you’re getting there,” or “slow and steady moves the race”) and motivating them when they feel down about their process being slow; however, when it comes to our own journey, we’re our own toughest critics. We get frustrated when we “don’t tone at the gym in the first few weeks of hard work.” We are hard on ourselves for “not being married” at the same age as others or “not having a career” at the same time as others, or “not having a car/house” at the same time as others. These may be silly examples, My Loves, but it’s like we have an easier time cheering others on in life and their journey but when it comes to ourselves that kindness does not exist. We are somehow incapable of self-love, motivation, or patience.

Forgive me and bear with me a moment here, for I don’t remember exactly where I heard this or who I heard it from exactly; however, I do remember hearing something special and motivating on this matter. The phrase/quote went something along the lines of “Can you imagine how much brighter/better the world would be if we showed ourselves the same kindness we show others?” This is so special and so crucial that we understand that life is made up of processes. No matter how long or short or how easy or hard they are... we all undergo them, we all learn to overcome them in our own way, and, more importantly, we all experience them in our own time and place. I reiterate that it’s ok if our process takes time. As I said in my previous post, it’s not about comparison… it’s not about competing… it’s about not giving up. Every small step forward is a step in strength and in the right direction. Just like the gym, you’re not going to see your abs ripped in a six-pack on day one, but you are much closer to that specific physique by completing your first three sets on day one than you were before you even stepped foot in the gym. We all need to learn to motivate ourselves, show kindness to ourselves, and keep going day by day just like we do for others. One step and one moment at a time toward our goals and to get through every part of life…

Until the next one my Loves,

XOXO Isabelle 😘❤️ XOXO