Why Setbacks Are So Important For Growth

One day I had to decide; did I want to continue down the path I was on, or did I want better for myself? Did I want to continue popping pills, snorting powder up my nose, smoking and drinking in excess, sleeping around and running away from myself, or did I want to heal? Did I want to keep chasing and choosing people that never really cared about me, or did I want to breathe love into myself? Did I want to live in fear of all my darkness and continue to hide from my light, or did I want to face my demons and rise?

One day I had to decide. I had to make a choice, to choose MYSELF above all else around me. I had to choose ME, choose to be better, be stronger than all the darkness that lay hidden away inside. I had to decide that I didn't want to be run by some invisible force anymore, I wanted to take BACK control of my life. One day I had to decide, and one day I did.

One day, I took my power back. One day, I said NO FUCKING MORE of this shit. I made a choice to better myself, one day at a time, one hard decision at a time. I made a choice to challenge my limiting belies and really truly begin to HEAL. It's been a beautiful journey and regret not a single moment.

When You Think You're Out Of The Woods

There is something that happens when we feel we are out of the woods...we get cocky. We have done all of this work towards becoming this healed person, feeling like we could conquer anything that comes at as, believing nothing can stray us off our path. Until it does.

This happens, firstly, I must add that this is a very normal part of growth. If you find yourself off your beaten path one way or another, understand that you are not bad, or this terrible person who has failed. I need you to know deep in your soul, whether it's relapsing on drugs or alcohol, calling that ex, binge eating again, whatever it is... It HAPPENED. Acknowledge it and understand you are a human being and we all falter from time to time.

When we get to this beautiful point of becoming, of stepping into our gorgeous and incredible new selves, the person we always knew we could be and make immense progress, the brain tries to shut us down like an angry neighbour at a block party. It senses we are walking into unknown territory and it wants to being you back to safety. It really is just doing it's job, trying to protect you.

This is very important information to know, as sometimes when we progress and start to feel a set back coming on, we may begin to actually believe the inner dialogue that safety is better than growth. And you and I both know that IS NOT TRUE! Always choose growth! When we look back, we can see where we have already gone, but it we can't change what is done and passed. We can only take the lessons from it and move forward in this life. We have only one and we never truly know when it's over.

Why Setbacks Are So Important For Growth

Sometimes we are up on the horse for so long, we've actually forgotten what it feels like to fall off. Falling off the horse shows us a few things...

For one, how human we truly are and that no matter how much we grow and learn, we can still make errors and mistakes and bad calls and that's OK. It also shows us how FAR we have truly come. When we slip on that old outfit from the past, we realize how uncomfortable it actually is, as it was made for a person we no longer are. it helps us recognize how hard we really have worked to get HERE, and how nothing is going to stop you from getting where you are going. Most importantly, setbacks have this uncanny way of lighting a HUGE fire under your ass to get fucking moving!

When you see how far you have come you also see where you DO NOT want to go back to, sometimes you just need the reminder. So setbacks can have the ability to catapult you forward into massive action and growth!

Self Love Is Good Love

At the end of the day, no matter what, self love is the THE way to getting wherever you want to go. Your outer world will reflect your inner world, and you'll only be able to have as much joy, happiness and success and you feel you deserve. Always remember to give yourself grace as you are only human, like the rest of us... too often we don't give ourselves the love we give to others, when we truly do deserve it. You deserve the love you give to others...

You are stronger than any obstacle life may put in your way, and you are so worthy of receiving all the blessings and gifts this beautiful world has to offer. But only if you believe it does.

Amanda xo