The goals that have been the hardest for me required me to do the hard work. This was one of the hardest things I had to learn. But wanting to do the hard work sometimes means we need to see the signs given to us. We also need to face the hard truth we don’t want to handle. We have to start making the hard changes we avoid. We must believe we can replace old habits with better ones because we want and need to. All of this without being disgusted with ourselves.

Sometimes it’s about seeing the possibilities, even if you don’t know the whole story. You may not want to follow the path someone else chose. However, you want to reach your destination your own way. It can mean making the easy choices. It also involves doing the hard work that is necessary. You still have to do this even if you don’t want to. I had to learn to stop pretending. I needed to make myself and others believe I was doing what I truly wanted. The stories I told myself didn’t match the results I was getting. Feeling, hearing, and seeing the shame of my behaviors disappointed those I love. This disappointment made me feel disappointed too.

I had to be honest when push came to shove. I was hurting in ways that I felt but did not see. It had me in constant fear. I kept wondering about the things that were happening because I wasn’t letting go of what I was doing. People judged me for the things I was doing. I was also being suggested to do things that I did not want to do. I wanted to have what it provided without doing what it caused to happen. Still, wanting the same result meant that I had to do the hard work whether I wanted it or not.

I wanted to start doing what was right for me before it was too late and bad things would happen. I had to be real with myself to realize that success required hard work. Old habits, which I knew were not wise, had to be broken. I had the tools to make things happen. While I did what was simple and proven to work, I faced problems caused by doing things right. I was unwilling to do what it took because it seemed too hard. I reached a point where I allowed myself to get worse. I ignored what was making things worse. I no longer wanted to feel what I was feeling alone or with others. I also didn’t want to follow the path others chose for their results. I wanted to achieve the same outcomes in my way. This meant I had to do the hard work and try with determination, never giving up.

Like other goals and needs I pursued in the past, I went for what I wanted. I pursued them because I had the wish to do so. I had to see what was happening in me. I realized that to get anywhere in life, I had to be real with myself. It took starting to do the right things. I had to face the issue I had long ignored, once and for all.