You’re Improving More Than You Think

Sometimes I feel like I’m going nowhere. I feel stuck in the same place and the constant need to do more, be more, see more. And I know a lot of people can relate. It sucks to feel like you’re not progressing.

But you are.

Last year, I made a 2016 fall bucket list and checked off many of the items happily. This year, I did the same and kind of feel underwhelmed by my activities and my goals. I feel like I can’t reach them and I feel like it’s just a repeat of last year.

But it’s not.

Every year, every day, no matter who you are, we are growing and learning and improving upon ourselves. Last year I had a goal to reach 2,200 Instagram followers. This year the goal is 6,500 Instagram followers. I’ve grown 4,000 followers in the past year and I worked really hard and felt really great when I was hitting those small strides. I forgot to stop and congratulate myself.

I just keep chugging along without stopping to look back and see my improvements and how much I’ve grown. And that kind of becomes a depressing way of life. Even though I’m setting these goals, nothing is driving me to finish them anymore.

I don’t want to finish them anymore because I never stop to reward myself for the things I’ve done. I check it off the list then create another goal. But why did I go through all that work? Why wouldn’t I want to celebrate? Because when you don’t stop to recognize your achievements, you think you’re not improving. But you are, we all are. We just need to take a moment and pat ourselves on the back.