Are we there yet? As a child, I was always anxious to get to our destination on family road trips. The initial interest of winding down the highway wore off quickly for me. As adults, we may approach life with that "are we there yet?" thinking when it comes to moving our lives on the course where we want to be. We want our lives to be complete. We want to quickly finish our journey to wherever we are trying to move. It feels too incomplete to live in between where we have been and where we want to go. The longer we stay in this middle zone, we fear that we may never get to where we desire to be.
It is too uncomfortable to be a work in progress in a culture that values completion. Most of us take the lack of completeness in our lives as a sign that we are hopelessly lost or as a sign of failure. We are unable to trust that we can ever really figure out all the answers and actually get what we want. We believe that we have missed the deadline to complete our dreams when there never really was a deadline. We want to be done with our goal, so that we can go on living our lives. We want to be finished with our spiritual seeking and finally arrive at a spiritual destination for good.
I have a great deal of experience living in the middle zone as a career changer. I left life as a government employee to pursue a career as a self employed writer and motivational speaker. At this moment, my dream is still taking shape. There are moments when I desire for completion of my dream. During these times, I remind myself of all the powerful lessons that I have learned on my journey toward my career goals. I have gotten to know myself better. I am writing the script for my life now instead of unconsciously following the script that my parents wrote for me. I am taking new risks and expanding my comfort zone every day. I am tapping into hidden qualities that I never knew existed within me. If I had not begun this journey, I would not have opened myself up to the possibility of even writing or speaking for a living. Even with my career as a work in progress, I am growing and evolving as a person. I am gaining from this experience which will only help me in the future.
That is the beauty of learning to be at peace with having your life be a work in progress. You are open to whatever opportunities and discoveries that open up while you are on the journey. You are getting to know yourself better. Being on the journey allows you to grow in powerful ways. Everything in life happens according to divine timing. We will arrive at our destination on God's timetable rather than our own. There is no wasted time or experiences. Every experience is serving us in powerful ways, even if we have not reached our goal yet.
Making peace with your life as a work in progress does not mean that you sit by idly and do nothing. You simply learn to have faith that you will reach your destination and you keep making steady steps toward it each and every day. At times, it may seem like you are not making progress on the outside, but your inner world is changing. In time, the inner changes will produce even more powerful, profound changes in your life experience--your outer world. There is no need to hit the panic button because you cannot see outward progress. There is no need to fear that you are stuck or off track just because your goals are incomplete. You have to learn how to cultivate faith that everything is working in your life, even if the results are not visible yet.
When we rush the completion of our dreams, we miss out on the opportunity to see all the powerful ways that we can grow and how our life can evolve into new, unexpected paths. Being a work in progress allows you to stay open and alert to wherever you are being guided to go. It is wise to learn how to get connected to and follow your instincts. Get your ego out of the way. Be curious about all the wonderful possibilities that lie ahead for you. Trust that greater possibilities are opening up for you, even if you cannot see them now. Trust that life is always supporting you. You cannot predict all the powerful unexpected ways that life supports you.
It is wise for us to learn make peace with being a work in progress. This middle zone is a temporary stop for us. We may not know exactly how long we will be here, but it is place preparing us for what is to come for us. The key is not to assume that we have failed just because we are in the middle zone. We have to learn how to evaluate ourselves and our lives in different terms. Our culture loves to measure success in quantifiable terms that we can see, feel and touch. Real progress always begins within us before we ever see the evidence in our experience. Progress is not always quantifiable and measurable for it to be real and significant. Being a work in progress requires us to trust and have faith that we will reach a point of completion. We have to trust that we are making progress before we see it. We have to learn that we are already success, even as our lives are a work in progress. Create a new definition of success for yourself that takes into account the ways that you are growing. Be grateful for what is working in your life and all that you have learned on your journey thus far.
Most of us are uncomfortable with being a work in progress because we need to be in control. Being in the middle zone feels frustrating and awkward. The future is so uncertain and unknown to us. We want to order the course of events of our lives, but life does not work that way. Our need to be in control makes us believe that our success or failure is completely our responsibility. We tell ourselves that we always need to be working toward our goals and making steady progress to feel in command of our lives. If we accept being a work in progress, then we are giving up the need to be in complete control. We are never really in complete control of our lives. We are partners with the Creator. All we can ever do is our part and get out of the way so that God can do the rest.
It is okay to have your life be a work in progress. Your life will not always be a work in progress. This middle zone is where persistence and faith come into play. You need to believe that you will get what you want or something even more powerful if you stay the course. Pay attention and listen to what your instincts are telling you. You might need to make some modifications to your goals. Maybe there are some lessons you need to learn and some emotional preparation you need to complete before you are ready to actually get what you want. Pay attention to opportunities that come before during this middle zone.
Being in progress is not a sign that life is denying you. It does not mean that you are on the wrong path. Being in progress can be teaching us to be patient and to be persistent. Stick it out during the uncomfortable moments where you stand between where you have been and where you want to be. Remind yourself of where you are going and what you want. Visualize yourself getting what you want. Prepare now for getting what you want. Assume that you will get there in your thoughts and actions. Create that expectation and anticipation of getting what you want instead of focusing on what has not happened yet. Trust that you will get what you want in time.
Copyright©2007 Jeannine Robinson All Rights Reserved