There are a lot of platitudes about starting something new. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good inspirational quote as much as the next gal.

The issue is, it is easy to get lost in the fluff.

What do I mean by this?

Let’s take this blog, for instance. I made the decision to get serious about blogging at the beginning of the year. It is now August. I have an About Me page and precisely one post.

So let’s go back to January and the inspirational quotes. They are compelling. They fill you with that good feeling that anything is possible. So much so that you are finally able to take that momentous first step.

The first step is usually small. It is an easy win. You decide to start working out. You go and purchase workout clothes and shoes. Suddenly you are that much closer to a slimmer toner you. You decide to start a blog. You purchase your domain name and set up your website. Obviously, you are just a few months away from a thoughtful and insightful blog.

It is the first day of school, and you have shiny shoes and a brand new pencil box. Look out world!

The second step is always exceedingly harder.

You get up early and go to the gym, feeling proud and confident. Upon entering the gym, you realize outside of the treadmill, you have little to no idea what to actually do at a gym. Additionally, running on a treadmill is hard. You push yourself to keep it up for a couple of weeks, but the novelty is wearing off. Five times a week turns into three. It is not long before your gym shoes are sitting in your closet, collecting dust. You feel discouraged and ashamed.

You sit down to write, feeling optimistic, and ready to take on the world. Conveying your ideas concisely and thoughtfully is hard. You find yourself opening new tabs to “research” your current post. That precious hour you managed to carve out to write is dwindling, with little to no progress to speak of. The lack of progress is discouraging. Somehow other priorities continually manage to get in the way of your writing. Months pass, and the dream feels far away. You doubt your ability and slowly give up.

Push past this part!

We spend our time lost in the inspirational quotes and the vision. The vision is often of the after, not of the before and the during. Instagram is awash in images of the perfect and idealized after. We have to envision and embrace the before and the during. They are an integral part of the process.

You are learning a new skill. You are working out a brand new muscle. Be it physical or mental.

Know that there will be setbacks and struggles. Embrace those as part of the journey. Be proud of yourself for showing up and push through the hard times.

This is especially true of your journey towards financial independence.

Getting a handle on your finances is hard. Really hard.

If you are reading this, maybe you have already taken that first step. Perhaps you are in the process of putting aside an emergency fund, paying off high-interest debt, or beginning to save for retirement.

Good for you. Keep going. Push past the first step.

Things will come up. Something may cause you to need to use your emergency fund. Or maybe you can not pay off debt as quickly as you were hoping. It would be easy to give up and say, “well, I tried.”

Push past the first step. Make that thing, whatever it may be, exercise, writing a blog, pursuing financial independence, a part of who you are. If you really want it, don’t let it fall prey to the honeymoon stage of setting a goal.

Don’t let your dreams get lost in the fluff. Work for them, fight for them, do not let them fade into the background.

I would love to hear from you! What goals are you currently pursuing? Do you feel overwhelmed, or are you getting into the swing of it? What goal have you set and accomplished?

Photo by Dominika Roseclay from Pexels