Again and Again and Again
Today is Groundhog Day. Every year, they pull that poor little critter from his warm bed and make a big deal out of whether or not he sees his shadow. However, thanks to a certain movie starring Bill Murray, Groundhog Day also invokes the idea of events repeating themselves over and over and over again.
Sometimes, I feel like I’m trapped in a similar place. I do the same things again and again and again. I think persistence and not giving up is the answer. “Just keep doing what you’re doing,” people say.
Really, a better approach might be to learn a lesson from Bill Murray’s character. He was able to get a do-over of that day until finally he got things right and then the world moved on. It took trying new approaches to his situation (I believe he was trying to woo Andie McDowell) until he found the one that yielded the results he was after.
For Bill Murray’s character, this (eventually) worked out well – time more or less stood still while he kept trying new things. Unfortunately, we don’t get that same do-over. Our time marches on, day after day, in a very linear fashion. The fact that the calendar keeps advancing makes it even more urgent that we don’t keep falling short by sticking to a strategy that isn’t working.
Understand that I’m not advocating giving up easily. I’m suggesting that if you’ve given something a solid try and it’s not working, you might consider an alternate plan of attack. Learn from those past attempts in order to inform the decision to try a new way of getting there.
Are there areas in your life that you feel aren’t progressing despite adhering to what seems like a sound process? I’m considering that maybe it’s time to change up several areas in my life because what I’ve been doing isn’t working. And since I don’t expect to wake up tomorrow and find it’s Groundhog Day all over again, today might be the day to try a new path.
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There are areas in my life that aren’t working for me. I go through times in which I’m eager to think about changing, but actually getting up and moving forward proves to be tougher than just thinking about it. This is a cycle I go through again and again. I’ve started trying to move forward by being more proactive and open to opportunities.
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I think that’s one of the things that I do that frustrates me the most – I know what to change and how to change it in a lot of cases. But actually getting on with it? That part seems like it should be the easy part somehow but it never turns out that way.
First things first – Groundhog Day is actually one of my favorite movies. I loved it so much for the the very reason you mentioned in this post – because he was able to move past the fact that he had to face the same day over and over again, and he learned to use it to his advantage. I am definitely well-versed in the art of staying stuck. I have really tried, over the last year, to break dumb habits and try to be more intentional with my decisions, but I guess it’s just a long process. And I have a hard time deciphering between when letting go and giving up. How do you make the distinction, people??
To me, letting go is an intentional decision. I decide maybe that goal isn’t what I need right now or just isn’t possible right now. Giving up is more about – I’m tired of trying and I just don’t want to anymore. It’s more about emotion than it is about thinking, if that makes sense.
That makes perfect sense and I thank you for breaking it down like that. It really, really helped!!