“If I could just follow my own advice, what a dream it would be to live my life.” -Peter James.

The road to success, as I’m told, has many, many peaks and valleys testing our fortitude each & every day.  Well, today, I definitely feel like crap. My mood is somber.  My energy level is low.  Instead of feeling motivated to reach my goals, it feels like I’m trapped in a dark, dark valley cluttered with brush, unable to make out which direction I am heading. Every step I try to take just makes it worse. It is so dark, that the chances of success seem impossible at this moment.

I guess it’s been a rough week for me, but not for any particular reason.  Nothing exceptionally bad has really happened. I think it’s just the daily reminder of how much debt I have to deal with that is irking me. Sometimes the stress builds to a point where I feel overwhelmed. Running a business is not easy, and doing it with little to no money is even harder.  However, progress is being made every day and there are some rays of light starting to peek through the dark distance, however fleeting they may be.

Some days feel better than others, like Reimagine is destined to make a huge mark on the world.  Other days, I wonder if I’m just out of my mind for even trying. Today, is definitely one of those days.

I feel out of my mind!

Yesterday, I felt down for no particular reason.  Then, this morning, after a decent night’s rest, I felt like crap all over again.  I just could not shake the ‘down‘ feeling.  I couldn’t even get myself to post something.  How could I write something positive, if I felt really negative?  It just did not seem plausible.  It was at this low point when I remembered some of my own advice.

“Try to change your perception, and look for the positive.”

It did not work at first. ‘What kind of stupid advice is that?’, I thought.  Nothing really seems too positive when every day you have money coming in that’s a week behind where it needs to be.  However, during a nice, quiet drive in my car, a positive thought finally popped in my head. I felt a relief rush over me as the words entered my mind….

At least I am on the right path.

That’s right I thought.  I may be in a valley right now, but I am still moving in the right direction and going after what I truly want.  These ups & downs are all part of the journey.  Good or bad, I should face them both with the same attitude.  I should not expect to only be ‘peaking’ the entire time. In fact, I should try to look forward to the valleys, because I know it means I am half way toward the next peak.

Basically, all I did was adjust my perception.

Nothing physically changed, except my outlook.  I realized my focus was solely stuck on the dark valley.  To change this narrow view, I pictured my entire journey laid out on a map, all the way from the starting point to the end goal. For some reason, this visual made me feel great again. It was like a giant wave of positivity permeated through my body.

By ‘zooming’ out my perception, so to speak, I was able to see the entire journey as a whole. Right now, I was on the path toward my goal.  It just was a rough section of the long journey.  Rather then focus on this one small point, I replenished my positive energy by visualizing the ups & downs as a collective whole. Together, neither the peaks nor the valleys seem that scary. In fact, the picture of them combined is so beautiful, it actually tends to help lift my spirit.

Next time you are feeling down, try to adjust your perception.  Daily life has a way of beating us down a little more each day if we let it. Sometimes we can get too caught up in day to day details to focus on what’s really important: where we are going.

What kind of effect is your perception is having on your goals?