Stop Procrastinating and Shine Your Light

Every person has been individually crafted with infinite worth and intricate design.

No two beings are the exact same. From their thoughts, number of hairs on their head, fingerprints, laugh, eye colour, smile, likes and dislikes, love language, quirky habits, path in life, and so much more. The design of each person includes different dreams embedded within the very soul of each person. No two dreams are alike, and yet they all compliment one another.

This uniqueness in character, style, and dreams means that the path each person walks is theirs; because no two people can possibly think to take the exact same steps as the person next to them for the entire journey.

And with each step comes different layers of success fuelled by a particular purpose: the dream.

Deep down we all have that one dream that scares us.

It sits in the middle of our heart. Sometimes it keeps us up in the middle of night, unable to sleep because of what the future could look like if it were a reality. Other times, we place it to the back of our mind and try to forget it because we don’t believe it can truly happen.

For myself, I have dreams that scare me. Sometimes I can’t stop thinking about them, and other times I try to forget about them. And when it begins to look like it can become real, I retreat and begin to self-sabotage myself.

“Self-sabotage?” I hear you say.

Yes, self-sabotage.

“Self-sabotage can be described as a combination of negative thoughts, feelings and self-defeating behaviours, caused by low self-esteem and a lack of self-worth and confidence that create roadblocks on the path to success.”

See, when it comes to things in life I’m not 100% or wholeheartedly for, I can give my mind and time to it, freely. But when it’s something close to my heart, I procrastinate, majorly, because the pain of “what if it fails?” clouds the thoughts of, “what if it’s amazing and exactly what is needed at this time?”

Procrastination is a form of self-sabotage.

Marianne Williamson once said these words:

 “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

It is our good, not our ‘bad’ that scares us. It is our knowledge that the light within us can truly diminish fears and injustice in the world. It’s the power we know we have in our love, kindness, grace, and mercy that stops us extending it, and unfortunately reverting to gossip and judgement.

And more than that, it’s a mentality that “nobody gets hurt / loses anything / etc if I don’t do anything.” When really, someone does get hurt and loses something they never knew they needed because we simply didn’t act upon what we were born to do.

By retreating inside yourself, procrastinating, and not functioning to the full ability of your original design, there are people who won’t realise that they have something to give this world too.

It took someone to shine their light for me to realise I have a light to shine too.

If I don’t shine my light, there are multitudes who won’t realise they have a light to shine too.

If you don’t shine your light, there are multitudes who won’t realise they have a light to shine too.

Your success is not about you. Your success is about what it enables other people to do.

And that thought can be so freeing when you realise that it’s not about ‘me’, but about ‘you’.

Stop procrastinating; it’s time to shine your light.

– image source: Bethany Morris