Decisions, Decisions

After running down a flight of stairs in my home, I noticed how easy that was to do, even though my limbs were a little achy. Yet, the journey up made it more obvious that I was hurting. It would have been tempting to halt the journey, but where I needed to be was on the upper level. It took me longer too. That made me think of the saying, ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ That may seem like a leap, but it was a matter of thinking how when we have a tendency to fall down or backwards, it never seems to require as much work or effort as our journey up.

This also reminded me of a conversation I recently had with some coworkers about our mindset when it comes to change. The downward road is easy to fall in to step on because, often, we’re more acquainted with it. We can easily anticipate potential variables of something going wrong because that’s what we tend to hold on to. This is also why we don’t require much time to come up with a whole list of reasons why that should prevent us from even trying! This is something that’s come to be referred to as Analysis Paralysis. A state of overthinking to the point that you can’t make a decision. I admit that I’m a thinker. I love thinking! But if we aren’t careful, we get caught in a loop of what ifs. We come up with every scenario where things go wrong and can’t think of one where it goes right.

I’ve mentioned in several previous posts how it doesn’t take much for our minds to run off on the negativity train. It can be a challenge to try to reel ourselves back in. By not allowing our relationship and our communication with God to falter, there is less opportunity for discouragement to overtake us. Our minds don’t need our help in generating negative scenarios.  This is the reason we need to be intentional about our relationship with God. That’s a major component of our faith. Believing even when what I see is contrary to that.

Notice that I did not say you will never be discouraged. It is a long arduous road that we travel. It can sometimes feel lonely and isolating. It’s made even more challenging when it seems like everything has gone the opposite direction of our prayers. That is not the time for us to give up, though. If anything, we combat the negative thoughts and pray even more. For those of us that have made a choice to trust in God, we need to do so even when that is difficult to do. Rather than sit in the discomfort and allow your mind to run away with the what ifs, take all those concerns to God and make it a point to leave them there. That’s not easy to do. By nature, many of us are fixers. We want to solve all the problems! That’s why some of us end up experiencing analysis paralysis. We can’t proceed until we have every contingency plan prepped and ready in case of failure. That’s not a place we can exist in with faith. Trust God with your whole self, even the less flattering parts. Don’t hold on to the things that are becoming weights that are dragging you down. Free yourself and trust him even more than you did yesterday.

Stay Sunny!

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