Acknowledging Progress

When you’re climbing a mountain it’s easy to look up and see how much further you have to go before you summit. We feel the pain in our legs, sun beating down, dryness in our mouth and the twinge in our stomach for another handful of trail mix.

A lot of times we tell ourselves to stop and enjoy the view when we’ve reached the top… to take it all in, look around at everything below you, to appreciate the scenery and the distance you’ve come.

But are we telling ourselves this when we’re falling to the ground, knees bleeding, exhausted from too many switchbacks and skin roasting under the heat?

Are we at all acknowledging our progress… no matter how small?

Annie and her sister-in-law 2 miles into a 14+ mile hike on the central coast of CA

Allow yourself happiness

It’s ok to be happy for yourself. It’s not selfish, egotistical or bad sportsmanship like. I give you permission to stop, take a deep breath, find compassion and positivity for yourself and your journey and just be proud of all that you are.

Stop comparing yourself to others. Yes, it’s damn hard to do so from the mental conditioning life has done to us, but at the end of the day, It’s just you and you have to be happy with who you are and where you’re going… and that’s ok.

Celebrate victories - big and small

Like I was saying in the begging, when things get hard, we only tend to look at how much further we have to go, we don’t look at where we are currently or look back at how far we have come or the beauty and excitement of the journey so far.

When I’m hiking I love to enjoy the view. I look around at everything around me, laugh with the people I’m with, catch up with whats going on with them and once things get tough and my body is getting sore, it’s like i have blinders on. I can’t see how beautiful things are around me, i can’t see the hand of my friends reaching out to help pull me up the mountain and I can’t see when they need my hand to help pull them up too.

This is what happens when we are not allowing ourselves to stop and see all we have accomplished and all the people we’re accomplishing it with.

It’s ok to celebrate that cut on a dollhead. It’s ok to be excited about reaching our small followers goal on social platforms. It’s ok to be happy about hitting your retail sales for the day even though you didn’t hit it for the week. It’s all ok. Celebrate it all.

Create gratitude lists as a way to show progress

At the start of 2020 I set an alarm on my phone for 9pm and at 9pm every night my phone buzzes and in big letters it says “gratitude”. It has allowed me to stop, take a moment no matter what is going on and appreciate something from my day and I write it in my planner.

When I first started you can see all the things were big and as time has gone on, I’m grateful for the smaller things. My cats, clean water, a warm bed, the ability to care for myself and so many other things I feel were dismissed as just things I got to have in my life.

It’s amazing the way it has completely changed my perspective on life in general. I’m finding myself having a better, positive attitude on myself, the world and other people.

I urge you to give it a try. I cant wait until the end of the year and I can look back and see everything I’ve done and the growth/progress I’ve made.

Remember why you started

Shit gets hard. It just does.

I can’t tell you how many times I swore I wasn’t going to be able to finish a hike. Once, my sister-in-law and I were seriously going to call an uber to take us back when we reached the next beach cause we could barley move our legs. There was no way we were about to go back the way we came and be able to make it. I was running out of water, she was low on motivation and my brother had plenty of both for each of us.

This is what we forget in the midst of “the hard part”. We forget there’s people there for us that all we need to do is reach out and ask for help and remind ourselves why we started in the first place.

Maybe sit down and make a vision board about why you started, a list or a brand worksheet. Reach out to a coach, a friend or significant other. Going back to those basic elements of what it was that set you on that journey in the first place will sometimes help you refocus your brand/business, reenergize your creativity for that competition or get you back on track in your career.

Why you started will always help get you to that finish line… or it will show you how off course you got and a new finish line will appear before you.

Remind yourself you’re stronger then you realize

One foot in front of the other. One step at a time. It doesn’t matter how fast or slow you go, as long as you keep going.

Have you ever pushed yourself so hard your body or mind literally gives out? I have.

With the team I was with on this particular hike, had everything I needed to help me get back. Plenty of cold water, motivation and laughs to keep going. My body had other plans though. we were about 3 miles from the car and my hip flexors got so tight I couldn’t walk anymore… so I ran. My brother cheered me on, my friends ran with me and when I just couldn’t go an inch more, they waited with me.

Each of us has hidden strength, we are capable of so much more than our minds tell us sometimes. We can be our own worst enemies, but I promise you, you are capable of ANYTHING you set out to do.

You are absolutely so much stronger than you realize and if you’re having a hard time with that concept, surround yourself with people that will help remind you. If they don’t… you have the wrong people.

“Unless they’re paying your bills, pay them bitches no mind” - RuPaul Charles

Listen to RuPaul, he knows what he’s talking about.

We are all going to have haters, especially when reaching for bigger and better things. The better you do, the more envious other will become because they want what you’ve worked for, but aren’t willing to do the things you have done to get there.

Fuck’em. Period.

Whether it’s a physical or metaphorical mountain you’re trying to climb, keep looking up, keep a positive team around you to cheer you on and give you some water if needed, or even just sit and take a break when you need a chance to catch your breath.

Most of all…. allow yourself to acknowledge your progress and be so damn proud of how far you have come, even if it’s just taking the very first step to get there. Be proud of you.