The road is long. And it’s easy to feel despair in seeing the many miles left to travel. But it’s good to regularly pause and affirm the courageous steps we’ve taken this far.
Twenty miles of a 3,000-mile road trip doesn’t seem like much. Even 500 miles feels like we’re still just beginning.
And our tendency is to focus on how far we still have to go that we forget to acknowledge how far we’ve already come.
Certainly, it’s good not to lose sight of our goal – to have a vision always before us of who we’re becoming.
This keeps us from getting distracted or assuming we’ve arrived at our destination prematurely.
At the same time, we’re more likely to grow discouraged and give up if we’re constantly reminded of how much we don’t measure up, and there are no affirmations along the way.
Affirmations serve as a type of fuel to keep us going.
We know we still have miles to go. But for someone to see the work we’ve done and affirm the ground we’ve covered so far is often just the encouragement we need to keep showing up.
Unfortunately, many will stay focused only on what we’ve not accomplished and won’t offer the affirmations we desire.
But this shouldn’t keep us from affirming ourselves. In fact, part of maturity is learning to pat ourselves on the back.
Others won’t always give us the encouragement we need and we must still find a way to stay motivated.
Even still, this is a grace we can intentionally extend to others.
We can readily celebrate progress even as we humbly acknowledge we’re still on the way.
Don’t lose sight of your destination. But learn to affirm the miles along the way.
Photo by Malachi Brooks on Unsplash
