56. Are you on the right path?

www.heididawson.com @theheididawson (Instagram) One of the main things Ive found doing the Wednesday interviews is that when successful people feel they are on the wrong path or headed in the wrong direction…they change it! They don’t stay unhappy. They don’t stay miserable. They don’t stay stuck. Now, They GET stuck but they don’t STAY stuck. Sometimes we feel stuck and we think it means everything is wrong in our life. We start generalizing and think that we need to change our partner, quit our job, move somewhere else. And that may be the case but sometimes we also just need to change our thoughts about things. So how do you know the difference between when you are on the wrong path or when you are just having a bad day? How do you know if you really need to change something or maybe you just need to change the way you look at it? You can be on the right path and feel discomfort. (sometimes that just means you’re growing) You can be on the right path and feel sad at times. (Life can be messy and we are all going to have moments where we feel sad. But those are moments, and they’re hopefully temporary) We have to be careful about making permanent solutions when its only a temporary problem. Sometimes we look at a situation and think oh Im uncomfortable so I need to change it. When I first started doing my design work, I was uncomfortable all the time, it was scary…When I first started my podcast I was uncomfortable a lot of the time. Usually when you’re doing something new, or doing something hard, it can be uncomfortable. But I ultimately find joy in both of these things, my design and podcasting. so even though sometimes I feel discomfort maybe because Im trying a new edgy product or maybe Im worrying that nobody will listen or care about my latest episode. Ive had to learn to accept the discomfort because ultimately I know that this is what I am meant to be doing right now, so I don’t need to change it, I just need to be ok with the discomfort and know that means Im growing which ultimately brings me even more joy. Another example is Before I met my husband, I was in a relationship with a really good, nice guy. He was successful, funny, nice looking and loyal. We had different goals though, we had different hobbies, we liked doing different things. I was uncomfortable a lot and ultimately I was not finding joy in that relationship. Right about that time, when I was dating him but it was not going great…. I was scheduled to go to an Anthony Robbins seminar in California. So off I go. At this seminar, Tony had everyone, all 2300 people write a letter describing their perfect soulmate. He wanted you to specify Your very perfect version of who you wanted to be with whether you were in a relationship or not. I was pretty distraught and basically wanted to come home at that point. You see, I knew that if I wrote that letter, I would have to admit that I was settling with my then boyfriend and it would ultimately mean I would have to break it off. Long story short. I wrote the letter through tears knowing that with it was the end of my relationship. I broke up with him the day I got home and never looked back. I needed to change it because neither one of us was going to find long term joy in that relationship, we were too different.