Meeting Yourself Where You Are.
Today, I am meeting you here just one month after the last blog. I can admit, since these blogs are meant to be vulnerable, that I fell off my motivation to write. I was just two months into my consistency with writing biweekly blogs, and I’m not ashamed (now) to admit that I currently have absolutely zero subscribers. I also never really know if anyone is actually reading and appreciating my writing.
It started with letting one blog go unwritten, which introduced one excuse after the other on why I didn’t have to or couldn’t write the next. Besides, I thought, does anyone really keep up with my blogs? So who would notice if I decided to skip a blog… or two?
One thing that I love most about myself is my tenacity, adaptability, and my ability to turn inward to seek out what spirit is telling me. I like to view my life as a storybook, where every plot twist or roadblock (in this case, creative block) is just a stepping stone for my next chapter. No situation, gift, or conversation goes unnoticed in my life; I believe it all serves some purpose.
That leads us into the inspiration for today’s blog:
“Meeting Yourself Where You Are.”
This month marked the second quarter of the year—the perfect time to do an audit on the goals and outcomes I want to refine and bring with me into this new quarter. Though I was not writing my blogs, I was still consistent in my self-improvement studies through lectures and books.
The late Dr. Myles Monroe, in his lecture “How to Become an Influential Leader: Best Strategies for Success,” spoke on “meeting people where they are” when influencing. I interpreted it as finding where someone is on their path, walking with them, and guiding them to wisdom. It reframed impact for me as the ability to see where someone is, and to have the humility, emotional intelligence, and patience to guide them with care.
I realized I needed to apply this method to myself, to redirect myself back to my purpose for writing these blogs.
Instead of letting the creative block and lack of motivation take up long-term residence in my mind, I stepped outside of myself and gently guided myself back to the right path.
I think it’s important for all of us, especially those who are in leadership or desire to be, to not feel above the program. I recognized where I needed redirection and improvement, and I allowed myself to be vulnerable enough to admit that I was slipping. At the same time, I was compassionate enough to remind myself that it’s okay, I just need to get up again.
So, the first step in getting back on track was honesty, realizing that I wanted to do better and acknowledging where I was mentally, including the truth that I felt slightly unmotivated without subscribers or visible readers. The second step was to “meet myself where I am,” by identifying where I truly am on this path without judgment.
Now, let’s get into the third, and most transformative, step in getting back on track and staying there: building systems that support the identity you want to embody, while decentering the goal itself as the ultimate destination.
If my goal is to write blogs and complete my poetry book, then based on the ideas from Atomic Habits, my focus must shift to BECOMING a WRITER and AUTHOR, not just achieving the outcome. As the book explains (paraphrased), “a winner and a loser have the same goals, but it’s the systems that separate the two.”
What a shift in perspective, huh?
I want to pause for a moment to recognize how I received this book, and why it reaffirmed my belief that everything in my life happens with purpose and divine timing. A client suggested Atomic Habits to me, and by the next week, he gifted me the book. When I began reading, within the first few chapters, I felt a clarity that reignited something in me.
One thing that stood out was learning that the author also started by writing blogs. It took him two years of consistency to grow his audience, three years to begin receiving speaking engagements, and four years to land his first book deal.
That made me reflect, maybe I was giving up too soon after just two months of biweekly blogs. I felt relieved realizing that small, humble beginnings are part of the process, and that I wasn’t behind just because I didn’t have 100,000 subscribers in the first month.
This brought me to the lesson of delayed gratification and compound interest. Each habit is a deposit into my future self, into the identity I am building. It may not look like anything… until it looks like everything.
My system of writing weekly blogs and consistently working on my poetry book is a reflection of me being a writer and author. And with my desire to one day own a physical studio for Thriving Artist Studio, I must also shift my identity toward becoming a studio owner and build systems that align with that version of myself.
The takeaway from this blog is the importance of shifting from outcome-based goals to identity-based goals, and asking yourself: Who is it that I need to become to receive my desires?
As the book describes, instead of focusing on the goal of running a marathon, focus on becoming a runner. The marathon becomes a natural result of that identity.
And beyond that, what systems are you building to support the person you are becoming?
Reflections For The Reader
Look at the goals that you currently have for the new quarter. How could you refine them to know WHO you need to become?
After understanding the identity you are seeking to embody, what systems will you create to become said person?
When was the last time you “ met yourself where you are?”
How do you interpret the saying “meeting yourself where you are”
What are some positive habits you have built that have become automatic? An example is making your bed every morning.
