Getting your Masters. Running a marathon. Writing a book. Getting a promotion. Buying a house. Moving to a new state. Leaving your job for a new business.
These are all Hard Things that take a lot of commitment and courage to pull off. These and so many more dreams stay out of our lives but in our hearts. The fear that we don’t have what it takes grows until it is the only thing we can see, and we give up on that big idea, that big dream.
What if we already have what it takes?
Maybe we haven’t done THIS thing, but we have done so many hard things in our lives! We have skills and knowledge from all of those experiences to keep going.
I was an elementary school teacher in Oregon for 13 years, so when I decided to change careers after we lived in Texas, I just knew that I would be unsuccessful. I had never done what I had decided to do and I was incredibly unsuccessful for a while! However, once I saw that the skills I had as a classroom teacher, I saw how I could take those and utilize them in my new career. I mean, if I can make fractions and long division exciting, I can do anything, right?
It was the same story when I was talked into running a half marathon last year. In fact, I didn’t even register for the race until the last minute! I built every single trap door for me to be able to back out, I was just sure that I couldn’t run that distance. I followed a training plan, just like I had with 5ks and 10ks in the past, it just took a little longer to train and I ran some more miles. By the time race day rolled around, I determined to celebrate myself and my training process by running the heck out of my race! As I crossed the finish line, I burst into tears, so happy and incredulous that I was able to do that Hard Thing.
In March 2015, my husband moved to Austin, Texas from our home outside of Portland, Oregon, for a wonderful professional opportunity. It was all great things, and I was now tasked with teaching full-time, selling our home, and packing up our life. By myself. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. At first, it was such a daunting and overwhelming situation, I literally sat on the floor and cried for about 30 minutes after my husband had left. I picked myself off the floor, bought some Starbucks for the dog and I, and got a whole mess of moving supplies at Home Depot. We have moved several times before, but nothing like a cross-country move. My friends and family got me through that Hard Thing. I still don’t quite know how it all happened and we were able to successfully move to build our Texas life, but I know that I got through it and that is what is important.
Sis, you have abilities, talents, and power to be able to achieve anything you want. Even the Hard Thing that you have put on the back shelf to care for everyone else. Even the Big Dream that you keep putting out of your mind as the million little things of everyday life consume you. Even the Big Hard Thing that you don’t know how you will accomplish. You already have what it takes! The perfect time to get started is now, you have done hard things, you’ll learn how to to this Hard Thing too!
You already have what it takes!
Xo,
Ellie
Ellie Schreiner's Blog 