One of the tasks I work on with my clients is to set a goal for themselves. I often get some pushback on this. I hear something like: “Look Laurent, I’ve been pursuing goals my entire career. I’m going through a rough time right now. All I want is to rest and not start to hustle my way to achieving new goals”.
I question those beliefs. Is being in a state of anxiety, uncertainty and doubt restful? Emotions coming from thoughts like “I don’t know what is going to happen” are the biggest dream killers out there. If it’s to feel uncomfortable anyways, might as well go after your dreams. Rather than sitting on the couch spinning in your own head.
Setting goals allows to provide structure and supervision to our brains. Allowing ourselves to dream gets us out of identifying ourselves through the lens of cancer. You stop indulging in thoughts like “I don’t know”.
I also believe it sends a powerful message to the body: “There are things I want to achieve, to experience and to become”. It sends the message “I want to live this life fully. I still have things to do”.
Using my personal example, I signed up for a training and got certified as a Life Coach. I started coaching clients going through cancer treatment. I taught my clients these concepts by recording and posting videos. I built my website and starting blogging. I learned to accelerate my twitter account. I interviewed in a podcast. All this while I was going myself through cancer treatment.
Was it easy? No. Was it uncomfortable? For sure. Were there some days that I wanted to quit? Of course. But I kept going. And during all that time, my mind was focused and would not indulge in thoughts that were not serving me.
Cancer is not a reason to stop dreaming. It’s exactly the opposite.
With love,
Laurent