Personal Growth

Why You Should Hop On The Struggle Bus (And Thank Me Later)

September 2, 2019

Hi! I'm Marie

You have gifts to share with the world and my job is to help you get them out there.

Read More

Heading

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

Button Text

Honestly, I was nervous.

A few author friends told me about their experiences on book tour. While I heard about beautiful moments, I also heard words like “grueling” and “exhausting” and “intense.”

So I made myself a promise that before I went on book tour for Everything is Figureoutable, I’d challenge myself to get as healthy as possible. That included building up physical strength and stamina. (My workouts had taken a backseat while writing the book.)

My strategy? Take near-daily group fitness classes at the gym. To say that my first few classes were humbling is a laughable understatement. But before we talk about my puke-worthy performance, let’s dive into what it means to challenge yourself.

Why Is Challenge Good? It’s Not For The Reason You Think.

Many of us say we want to challenge ourselves to grow but, at the same time, we’re terrified of looking stupid. I mean, who wants to appear weak or incompetent — especially in front of others? No one. 

But here’s the thing. Being uncomfortable and doing things that are hard, unfamiliar, and outside of your skillset is the very definition of how to challenge yourself. The *only* way you’ll ever grow stronger is if you step beyond what’s easy and familiar. You must intentionally put yourself in uncomfortable, uncertain territory. In other words, you need to hop on that struggle bus ASAP!

But here’s an even bigger reason why you should challenge yourself. 

Hitting your goal is far less important than who you become in the process of working towards it. The biggest benefits of challenging yourself are the mental and emotional strengths you build along the journey, including: focus, discipline, determination, resilience, humility, and faith.

Let’s be clear. Riding the struggle bus doesn’t always lead to first place trophies or world domination. And yes, the space outside your comfort zone is awkward and humbling. You will likely fall on your face. Yes, you may even faceplant (more on how to deal with the fear of failure here). 

But if you want to experience greater growth, higher satisfaction, and lasting fulfillment in life, challenging yourself is the way to go. In today’s MarieTV, I’ll challenge you to answer a counterintuitive question that proves easier isn’t always better.

Once you’ve had a chance to watch, I’d love to hear from you. Today’s question has two parts:

  1. Think about your past. What’s one instance where you tackled something really challenging and you grew stronger as a result?
  2. What’s one hard thing you know you need to start doing now in order to make your life better?

Share as much detail as you can. Hundreds of thousands of souls come here for insight and inspiration. Your story may be just what someone else needs to have a major breakthrough.   

Important: please share your thoughts and ideas directly in the comments. Links to other posts, videos, etc. may be removed.

Thank you so much for reading, watching, and sharing your point of view. I hope you’ll join me on the struggle bus so we can challenge ourselves (and laugh at ourselves) together!

P.S. Have you saved your spot in the FREE Everything is Figureoutable coaching program I’m launching this fall? Click here to learn more and register before September 10th

With SO much love ❤️,

XO

View Comments