Reflection is important when picking yourself back up after everything seems to be going wrong. 

At Achieve, we believe that there are 5 major components when it comes to holistic success: Spiritual, Wellness, Relational, Career, and Financial. Here in this post we will be focusing on Spiritual, which is defined as: “your sense of purpose and/or spiritual journey.”

Figuring out who we are and why we’re here, is a long journey filled with trial and error. Many times, when the errors begin to pile up, we can find ourselves becoming dissuaded in continuing our journey. Do not allow this to happen.

The road to success will have obstacles and setbacks. Sometimes these issues are ones that are out of our control, and sometimes we create them ourselves. This can lead to us feeling overwhelmed and lost. These issues build up because we convince ourselves that if we keep pushing through, things will improve. But oftentimes, they keep getting worse. So, what steps can we take to begin fixing things?

1. Pause

Most importantly, take a moment to pause and breathe. Trying to push through issues instead of taking a moment to solve them will only cause problems to build up. Many times these feelings can be overwhelming, and you will need to take a moment to clear your head and gather your thoughts. Remember that hindsight is 20/20, so be kind to yourself as you reflect. This is a moment for learning and growth, not to beat yourself up over all of the things that you could have done differently.

2. Identify the Issue

Reflect on the following four [4] questions:

  1. What went right?
  2. What went wrong?
  3. What happened that was in your control?
  4. What happened that was out of your control?

3. Ask for Help

You may need help in this process as well. It can be hard to pinpoint precisely how you’re feeling or how to move forward on your own. Being able to talk things through with someone and getting an outside perspective on your issues will help bring clarity where you may feel there is none. We can’t solve everything by ourselves, and we are not islands. 

“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.”

– Margaret J. Wheatley