Everyone talks about working hard to achieve their goals, but no one really tells you what to do afterwards. Whether you work 10 years to achieve one or 2 weeks, I think we’ve all had that feeling of… “now what?”
It’s like Taylor Swift said in her Netflix documentary after she had won her second album of the year Grammy for a different genre and it’s what a lot of people say after their kids move out. The “now what’s” can even hit you after you’ve deep cleaned the whole house. Goals big or small, this feeling is something I’m all too familiar with. It’s almost like an empty pit in my stomach. I don’t know where to go or what to do next.
This feeling also doesn’t come specifically after you reach a goal, it also comes when you change your mind on a life path.
The thing is, so many people associate quitting with failure, but what if it’s just changing our minds? I mean, can you imagine if we weren’t allowed to change our minds on what we love to do and who we spend our time with? We’d still be stuck with the 5-year-old dreams of becoming an astronaut or a princess and the friends we made in Kindergarten. The 15-year-old you has completely different goals than the 20-something you. I think your life should be made up of lots of goals and unlimited chances to change your mind. It’s ok if what you thought you wanted turns out to be nothing like what you wanted it to be. It’s also ok if it’s exactly what you wanted it to be.
I think a lot of us as a society get caught up in the meaning of success. A lot of us equate success with fame, money and things. Some of us equate it with love, family and peace; and that’s just it. Success for one person looks and feels completely different than another. For some of us, showering daily is just a chore, but for a new mom or someone with crippling depression, a shower is a huge success. When did we stop celebrating all of the little success in our lives and get so caught up on only the big ones? I thought about this answer for a while, and I think social media has a lot to do with it. If you post that you mastered a new recipe, you won’t get near as many “likes” as if you get engaged or announce that you’re going to be on TV. It’s a vicious cycle that I find myself slipping into a lot these days.
Moving forward, I’m going to start celebrating every little thing that makes me happy. I don’t need to validate my reasoning to anyone but myself. I don’t need to post about it or even tell anyone about it. I do, however, need to start finding those little happy moments in my life again. My success should be validated by only me.
So yeah, the “now whats” will happen, and that’s ok. However, I don’t think they should be so negative and I don’t think we should be comparing the “importance” or “status” of our goals to one another’s. (Or to each of our own goals’ level of importance for that matter.) If it’s something you want to achieve in your life, that’s all the importance you need. It doesn’t have to be some life-changing, earth-shaking goal… it just has to make the one life you have a little (or a lot) better. Change your mind if you want, whether it be half-way to a goal or after you feel you’ve achieved it. Listen to that little voice in your head. You’ve got this. Embrace the lulls in your life as a moment to take a deep breath and figure out… “now what?”
Xo Megan
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