Improvement Journey

Falling Out of The Wagon; How to get yourself up again

Have you ever feel like you are falling out of the wagon?  The feeling is like when you were riding in your car and you notice a certain sound or a noticeable shake that make you bite your lips in anticipation.

In real life, we are constantly driving.  We are in a road-trip where our ride is the things that we built in life (e.g family, career, financial stability, social life).  While the traffic, the weather, and the road are the things that given and are out of our control.

There are times when you start to notice that some things in your life are not working the way it is supposed to be.  And you need to do something about it otherwise soon it will create a snowball effect on the entire ride.

This my friend, is a gentle warning.  This is a problem that we need to sort out before it was too late.  I had had this kind of feeling for several times before, and I have learned my lesson to never ignored those warning ever again.

Pay Attention to your Intuition

Sometimes, it is quite easy to know what caused the malfunction in your life.  It can be your work life, where you no longer find a balance between work and real life.  Or it is your relationship that is starting to take up too much of your time and focus that you abandoned all other responsibilities.  In the case where you are able to identify the source of the problem, it is easier to fix it.

However, there are also times where you just can’t find what is not working, yet you can’t shake the feeling that something is not right and that you are carrying a ticking bomb.  That “feeling” is Intuition.

Believe it or not, despite all of the confusion it is a good thing that you are able to listen to your intuition.  It gives you a head-start to solve the problem early.  It also meant that you are doing something right with your life and especially with yourself.

Many people are no longer having a connection with their inner-self that they are no longer having these warnings.  Maybe they do, but they never let it speak.

Intuition is like a muscle, it needs to be trained for it to become strong.  You have to let it speak and let it guide you.

The Problem with Intuition

There were times when we just ignored or ignorantly dismissed our intuition when we are facing important situations.  We ended up making a wrong decision that we regret, followed by guilt for not listening to our intuition.

Usually, it was already too late when we finally know that those voices in the back of your head or the butterfly effect in your stomach WAS indeed our intuition.  As the proverb saying;

“For regret always comes last”

There were some occasions where I fell out of the wagon because I didn’t listen to my intuition.  Most of the time it was because I was confused about whether it was my intuition or simply my over-thinker mind who gave me a warning before something bad happened.

My Latest Fall

To relate this post to my experience, I recently fell out of my healthy routine wagon.  Ever since I moved to Singapore I established a habit/routine that brought a lot of positive changes in my life.  This habit/routine had become a core of my daily activities to the point that if I failed to follow it every single day, I will lose my focus of the day.

I know it’s not good to be so attached to routines.  But at this point in my life, I need it.

For the last 3 weeks, I had fallen out of this wagon of a routine.  Now I started to feel that there are something off in my life.

For example, I started to feel heavy, probably because I didn’t really watch what I eat.  I felt restless because probably I haven’t been (properly) praying.  Also fell a little bit distant with my inner self because I haven’t been taking good care of my physical and spiritual self during these times.  It makes me feel like a dull knife.

To read more about my morning routine you can visit my other post here.

For you, It might be just an old habit that you tried to lose.  It might also be that you are a recovering addict who made a split-second decision to take that one sip.  One sip and you were fallen out of your hard-work sobriety wagon.  Whatever it is, there is a way out!

What can we do?

So what do we do when we found ourselves in that situation?  For we can’t fall into despair of regret and guilt for the rest of our lives.  We need to get back up and take control of our life again.  Maybe the fall was so hard that you found yourself at the rock bottom.

For a simple case like mine, it is not so hard to restart my routine.  However, these tips could also be applicable to those of you who have been falling out of a more “serious” wagon.  Where you found yourself hit rock bottom and feels like there is no way out.

  • Don’t beat yourself up for failing nor drowned in self-pity.   Try to convince yourself that faith and lots of hard work are all you need to climb up.  Even higher than ever.
  • Set your mind to achieve something. Starts small, any achievement (no matter how small) is beneficial for your self-esteem (which normally shattered when you have fallen).
  • Do everything that you can to pave a way to achieve the goal. For example, if your goal is to wake up earlier than you used to then you will set an alarm.  You might even ask your partner to kick you out of the bed if you hit the snooze button.
  • Take control of your life, no matter how small it is. Because knowing that you own your life is one of the keys to success in everything that you do.
  • Keep swimming! Yes, it is the tagline from one of my favorite animation movie.  But it has become a powerful affirmation for me, just keep swimming.  Don’t stop for anything, you have nowhere to go but up after you hit rock bottom.

So, I have to restart again my healthy habit and hopefully, everything will be back to normal soon.  To get yourself up after falling is the same feeling as when we are at the end of a vacation.  Where you have to go back to reality and you need to brace yourself.

Let me know in the comment if you have fallen out of your wagon or if you have hit the rock bottom.  How you got yourself up again and what keeps you going.

Thank you for reading, and stay positive!

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