I want to talk to you about something that I've been feeling and I've been hearing a lot around me as well.
And it's almost this exhaustion of continuous self-improvement.
It's almost this burnout of personal growth.
There's so much information out there,
So many books we can read,
Podcasts we can listen to,
Social media posts and quotes we can scroll through all day with inspiration and things that we can do to improve our lives.
But sometimes it just feels like we're at this point that we feel,
OK,
Maybe I'm done with growing for a moment or changing or improving.
Maybe I just want to enjoy my life.
And this is something I've been feeling as well lately.
And I've been thinking about,
Okay,
How can I add more joy into my life without feeling like I constantly have to improve myself?
Can I just go on a walk without needing to find some insight?
Or can I just listen to something or watch something just for the joy of it and not feeling like,
Oh,
I have to find inspiration or I need to get a tip out of this because that will help me grow.
Because sometimes it can put a lot of pressure on us.
And I think an important question to ask ourselves when we feel this continuous need to improve.
Is,
Okay,
Where does this actually come from?
What is the energy behind it?
Is it because we're curious to learn?
Okay,
I think that's a great place to be at.
Curiosity.
We want to learn because we're curious to grow and see where it might lead us.
But another side of this can also be.
This continuous need to improve because we feel like at this moment we're not good enough yet.
We feel like,
Okay,
Maybe where I'm at right now,
It's not good enough yet because I know I can be better.
And so we want to keep on improving and improving.
But then what happens is that when we finally reach that next level,
That becomes our default,
But we're still not happy with it because once we're at that level,
We see all the other opportunities and we're like,
Oh,
But now I want to reach this state and this.
And so it keeps on going and going.
And what happens is that we actually never feel satisfied with where we're at right now.
And maybe you recognize this.
For example,
Let's say if you compare it with going to the gym,
Right?
Maybe your first goal is just to get a little bit more fit.
You feel like you want to just feel a bit healthier,
For example.
And then after some months of training,
You're like,
Okay,
I reached this stage.
But then you see something else and you're like.
.
.
Wow,
I can get even stronger.
Let me work on that.
Oh,
Now let me get that six pack and you keep on,
You know,
Improving or not even improving,
But reaching for the next goal,
Chasing the next goal.
And if it comes from a place,
As I said,
Of curiosity,
Of just see,
Oh,
Let me see what I'm capable of.
If it comes from that energy of,
Of really joy and feeling like,
Oh,
I want to become my best self and see what's possible.
And it comes from a place of excitement.
I think it's great.
But if it comes from this place of underneath,
Because sometimes we don't even recognize it,
But it's a feeling underneath of,
Oh,
I know I can do better.
So where I'm at right now is not good enough.
I think if that's what you feel,
Or perhaps this is something you can reflect on as well,
Because it's something we don't always recognize.
Then maybe it's good to just tune it down a little bit and take a break and see,
Okay.
What if I can actually already be happy with it?
However my life is at this moment.
And see that as the default mode and feel like,
Okay.
This is all ready.
Good enough.
I'm already good enough.
With whatever is going on,
Whatever I'm doing now.
And yes,
Perhaps I could improve.
But then it comes from a place of worthiness,
Of self-love and just feeling like,
Okay,
I deserve to improve.
This is a gift to myself.
I don't need it,
But it's something that I would like.
And if you approach it in that way,
It becomes a completely different energy as well.
So it's really about reflecting for yourself,
Okay,
Where does this desire come from to keep on improving?
And how can I make sure that I don't keep on moving the finish line up?
Because as I said,
Then you will always be reaching out for the next thing and the next thing,
And you will never be satisfied with what you have right now.
And besides that,
I want to give you this invitation to actually already recognize everything you've already learned,
Everything you've changed already or improved,
And just really live in that moment,
Live with what you've learned already.
To recognize,
Wow.
How far have I come already?
Because this is something we often forget,
Especially when we are on this personal growth journey,
Because there's so much input out there.
And we're like,
Oh,
Yes,
I haven't thought about this yet.
Yes,
I can still improve my morning routine.
Yes,
I can still do this to become more productive or that to become more effective.
But let's just also recognize how far you've come already.
Maybe if you if you look at your journey from the past few years or the past decades and just think about how far you've come already.
That can be so beautiful.
And I think for me,
I also have faces in which I feel like,
Okay,
I can take a break from learning for a while and just focus on enjoying my life.
And I feel like that's also the phase that I'm in at this moment and have been in in the past few months.
And I think especially these moments,
These phases happen for me after I go through a challenging time.
After,
For example,
I've been in survival mode for a while and I feel like,
Okay,
I need to give myself a break.
What is more important right now is to just regulate my nervous system.
And to just bring back joy in my day-to-day life.
Because I don't want to be hustling through life all the time.
I don't want to be in survival mode all the time or feel like I just have to keep on pushing myself.
Maybe today I will skip the gym.
And I go back to it tomorrow,
You know,
To giving yourself that grace.
And that space.
And to be like,
Okay,
Maybe not every day has to be productive or effective.
Maybe it's also okay to have a day of rest.
Just sit on the couch.
And this is something that I really had to learn.
And it's,
I think,
Also something that is not shared enough because what I've been seeing around me all the time,
And this is also I think how I grew up and what I've seen around me my whole life is to always be productive,
To work hard all day.
And maybe if you have some time left at the end of the day,
You can rest.
So this is how my internal program has been working for all those years.
Keep on going,
Keep on going,
Even when you're tired.
And I realized,
Okay,
This doesn't work for me and it's not the healthiest approach long term.
Yes,
It's great to work on your goals,
But at the same time,
We also need to take breaks.
And to be okay with resting without feeling guilty.
And I think this applies to the personal growth journey as well.
We can keep on improving ourselves,
But sometimes we just need a break.
I feel like,
Okay,
Let me just enjoy life for what it is right now.
I don't need to get an insight.
Out of every activity I do or a lesson out of every conversation that I have.
Maybe just enjoy.
Being in the present moment.
And maybe that's all I need for now.
Because it's so easy to postpone.
Your enjoyment.
To feel like,
Oh,
I first need to reach.
This milestone or this state and then I will be happy.
And as I said before,
Then we just keep on reaching something in the future and never bring it into the present moment.
And then at the end of your life,
You look back and you're like,
Oh,
I've actually just been working on improving myself all the time.
But where was the enjoyment in this?
So I think it's also okay to.
.
.
Take the choice to have a break from self-improvement now and then.
And I think the funny thing with that is when you take that break.
It doesn't mean that you're not improving anyway.
Maybe you're not consciously learning something new.
But I feel like when we become more present,
At least that's my experience,
When I let go of the pressure,
And just become more present and add more joy into my life.
That's actually when the most beautiful moments happen anyway,
And that's when I just get spontaneous insights or reflections that I wasn't even looking for purposefully,
But that just happens.
So I think.
.
.
That's also the magic sometimes of surrendering to this journey and to realize,
Okay,
There's no destination to reach.
But we're just on this journey all the time and it's okay to.
.
.
Be kind to ourselves,
To take a break when we need to,
And to not have this constant need to keep on improving.
To also realize that we just have these chapters in our lives and to also feel like we can enjoy our life already and be good enough.
When not everything in our life is resolved.
Because there's always things that can be better.
But that doesn't mean that life cannot be good right now.
So this is maybe a beautiful reflection that you can do to really think about,
Okay,
What are actually all the beautiful things that I have in my life as well?
And you can turn this into a gratitude practice,
But it can just also be a simple reflection to think about.
Okay,
Yes.
There's so many good things in my life already.
Perhaps it can be better,
But I don't have to improve everything today.
It can be part of my journey.
Thank you for listening and I will see you in the next one.
