Biggest Hurdles

We all have hurdles in our lives, and sometimes it can be a little disheartening because what we struggle with might not be a big deal to the next woman – if anything, they can make it look rather easy!

It also depends on the season of life that you are in. If you have young children, your hurdles will look differently than an empty nester or a young adult just finishing college.

When I write this, I think about the hurdles I had when my children were younger and needing me much more compared to now where they are almost fully grown adults.

The only constant in life, is change.

My husband hates when I tell him that, but it’s true. Right when you finally get used to something – it changes.

This doesn’t have to be bad news though because in the season of life that can be a struggle or you are finding it hard to cope, there is some sollace in knowing that it will change and it can change for the better.

What are the Typical Hurdles

We all have our different hurdeds that we have to deal with. What I have a hard time with, you might laugh and think it’s nothing! Even though you might feel like it is impossble to deal with, know that there are others who have figured out a way to solve their problems (and those can help you too!). And you can provide insight to others where you have found the solution.

Time Constraints

Most of us don’t experience endless amounts of free time during the day.

I am one of those,

I have to squeeze things in, and time blocking is something that has helped me tremendously.

It was really hard for me to do everything I wanted to do and what I needed to do. Sometimes I would lose track of time with the activities that I enjoyed and didn’t have the time or the energy to tackle the laundry or dishes. If I stayed up late finishing my chores, the morning routine would suffer and therefore my next day would feel ruined.

I can’t even count how many times this happened.

I would try to do it all, including my eight hours of sleep a night and exercising. It was nearly impossible, but I was killingh myself either with trying or the guilt that would overcome me when I spent time relaxing .

I can guarentee that you have struggled with this at one moment in your life because it happens to all of us.

It was crucial that I made some changes to make my life easier.

For starters, depending on the season and what was happening in my life at the moment, I needed to focus on what was truly important and what I really wanted to accomplish.

Then I took those things that I wrote down and time blocked my day. I found it helpful to not time block my whole day but said, one hour for cleaning, one hour for writing, one hour for exercise, etc.

The way my life is, I can’t just sit for one full hour and do that, so I broke it down to 10 minutes x 6 sessions or 30 minutes x 2 sessions or 20 minutes x 3 sessions.

When it came to my exercise, I would do a 20 minutes video and then throughout the day try to find 2 or 3 minutes and do a rep of something.

It was changing my mentality of doing it all or nothing and just being content with doing something.

When it came to writing or cleaning or other work, I would set a timer and when I was interrupted I would pause the timer. Even though I would spend 20 minutes on something, it could take me 46 minutes because I had to keep pausing the timer.

But once that timer had gone off, I knew that I truly spent my alotted time on it and it made me feel productive and good that I was getting it done.

Budget Limitations

We might envision a lifestyle that seems perfect to us, only to realize that we don’t have enough money. Very common and a little disheartening but being honest with yourself is the best way because going into debt can cause more probems.

Overwhelm with Choices

Having too much, which might seem like a good thing, can actually make us suffer with the overwhelm of too much to think about.

I think this is why the minimalist lifestyle is so attractive to many people because it helped simplify their life.

Capsule wardobes, less clutter, having smaller homes and just less in general helps with having to be bogged down by thinking of what to do next.

Living elegantly will look different for everyone, but I do think that not being consumed by too much of anything can help your mind remain clear and in turn more happy.

I’ve learned that having more does not mean more happiness.

I want it to be clear that if you have a big house or extra money, as long as it does not fill you with overwhelm, then it isn’t a bad thing. If you have a wardrobe that is the size of bedroom, I think that is wonderful! However, if it makes your choice of what to wear or that your closet is unorganized and causes frustratioin – then if anything it is hurting your elegance instead of enhancing it.

Maintain Consistency

Being someone who loves and craves routine and a little bit of a structured life – you would think that I could handle consistency but I struggle with this often. I think it’s because each day demands different things and sometimes I can wake up early and ready to tackle everything on my to do list and other times I press the snooze button.

Or I was really productive the previous day so I “allow” myself to relax which means some things just don’t get done.

I read a book, (which honestly deserves a post for itself because I feel like it changed my life!) and it talked about the idea of compounding. The book is called The Compound Effect.

It’s premise is so simple that it’s almost insulting, but incredibly helpful.

Do little things every day and in the long term, the changes will be huge. Your life can look so different. But it’s not about overhauling your life and making massive unsustainable changes.

Maintaining consistency is truly the answer to most of our problems.

Want to lose weight? Consistently eat less calories, choose to exercise even for a few minutes a day and stay away from your vices.

Want to read a book a month? Consistently read 10 page a day and it will happen.

Perhaps you want to have a clean home? Consistently spend 30 minutes a day on it and before you go to bed, make sure the kitchen is cleaned and ready for breakfast.

These small little changes aren’t much if you only do the one or twice. But the power comes from being consistent.

If you want to portray looking elegant, stay consistent with your beauty routine, your exercise, your food, and your wardrobe – each one spending only a few minutes on a day – after a month the results will be astounding.

Perfection and the Ideal Woman

Women always struggled with this concept of the perfect woman. Before the influencers on social media there were television shows. Before television shows there were magazines. Before magazines there were movie stars. Before movie stars were just the beautiful women in yuor community that had it all figured out.

Obviously, no woman had it all figured out, regardless of when or where.

But my point, is that there is nothing new about this idea.

You have to stop telling yourself, “Okay, once I lose the weight I’ll buy my nice clothes, and until then it’s only tights and sweats for me” or “When I start to make money and get older then I’ll start acting like a lady”.

I have struggled with the ideal of perfection and not me trying to be perfect but the timing will be perfect too. It has been one of my biggest hindrances.

However, I have been working on it for so long that I feel now I am much more relaxed. Ironically, I am happier and more productive now that I am reminding myself that this perfect person or perfect house or perfect timing is all a lie.

Removing Hurdles and Living Elegantly

We all have different hurdles that we need to get through.

Some are not as big as others – but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t as important.

By biggest lesson for you first is to become aware to what your main hurdle is. There might be more than one (such as myself), but work on one at a time and slowly you will find yourself jumping over them and what you once thought was difficult is now too easy.

Please let me know what your hurdles are in the comments and I can do a series on the hurdles that we struggle with!