Five Ways You May Be Holding Yourself Back

How often are you looking at the lives of other people and wishing you were doing more instead of talking about it, dreaming about it? And how often have you considered that the only person stopping you from living your best life is you?

Probably never. Most people don’t realise that they are the ones that are in their own way. Life is a messy road filled with anxiety and worry, but if you are stumbling around on the road to contentment and are constantly hitting roadblocks, you have to ask yourself whether you are the roadblock in your own life. Feeling stuck isn’t always easy to cope with, and if you’ve been in a situation where your health, your movement and even a cognitive impairment are the things that are in your way, overcoming that is going to take some time. Below, you’ll find five ways that you could be holding yourself back:

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1. Self-Criticism. If you’re tearing yourself down by telling yourself you’re not good enough, you’re going to beat yourself down. Ask yourself whether you would tell someone else all the negative things that you tell yourself. When you realise that you wouldn’t, because their feelings would be hurt, ask yourself why your feelings don’t matter.
2. People Pleasing. You are not responsible for the happiness of others around you. You are responsible for your own happiness, and if you have a hand in someone else’s smile, then that’s lovely, but that isn’t your obligation. Stay true to what you need. If you had an accident and couldn’t work anymore, you wouldn’t force yourself to do it out of guilt; you do you first, always.
3. Not All Or Nothing. How you feel about yourself has a direct correlation with how others feel about you. If you feel nothing but negativity, how can you expect others to stay positive about you. A bad minute of the day doesn’t make for a bad day, it’s just a bad minute. Take a breath and remember that before you allow that bad minute to snatch up all your happiness.
4. Negative Cycles. You make a mistake at work, and that opens a floodgate to question every decision you ever made. Do you keep reminding yourself of that bad decision or do you push forward? You should push forward and away from a negative cycle of thinking. It’s not always simple, but it is necessary if you ever want to remember how it feels to be positive about your life.
5. Failure. There is not one person out there who wants to fail. Thomas Edison didn’t fail to invent the lightbulb 1000 times, he says that the lightbulb was invented in 1000 steps. This way of thinking is one that has been remembered throughout time and it’s a way you should adopt for yourself. Thinking you’re a failure is holding you back – it’s time to stop and learn to believe in yourself.

Take a moment and remember how valuable you are. Then stand up, shoulders back and continue with a positive head on your shoulders. You get one life; don’t waste it by being your own rock in the road.