Step into Your ‘Why’

When I opted for sobriety in January 2018, I knew why that option was best for me. For most of my adult life I have had difficulty falling and staying asleep. And that was only compounded when I started working as a flight attendant. And when I was struggling to sleep and always waking up tired, it was hard to stay focused. Everything took a hit—my writing productivity, my running, and my overall sense of joy for life. Sobriety was a way to turn those things around. And to be successful with any goal, you must step into your why.

The Power of ‘Why’

Change for change’s sake doesn’t amount to much. There’s no ‘why’ to motivate you, to help you become the best version of yourself. For years, I wanted to break free of lies I told myself around money. That I wasn’t good at handling money. That I could never achieve financial freedom. And that I could never break the spending patterns that made financial freedom seem impossible.

My ‘why’ for writing was 1,000 times stronger than my money ‘why.’ In my thirties, I made some poor financial choices that eventually caught up with me. I never wanted to be the person getting calls from a collection agency, but that was me. After clearing out my credit card debt, I never wanted to end up in a similar situation. But it happened again. I wanted to save for the future, but consistently found myself living paycheque to paycheque. When it came to money, I hadn’t found the courage to step into my ‘why.’ And because of that, I had relinquished the power to change my life.

Step into Your ‘Why’

A big part of my current change journey is to take control of my finances. I cannot change what happened in the past, but I can own the choices I made. And I have, and I’m dealing with the consequences. The pandemic forced me (because I was still keeping my head down) to figure a way out of my financial mess. And slowly but surely, I’m making progress…at a snail’s pace. But it’s progress, and that’s what counts.

It took me a while, years, to learn, as Darren Hardy explains, that “our wisest and most motivating choices are the ones aligned with that which you identify as your purpose, your core self, and your highest values. You’ve got to want something, and know why you want it, or you’ll end up giving up too easily.”¹ Change requires that you step into your ‘why.’

No matter how uncomfortable it is, and will continue to be, I’m stepping into my ‘why.’ Will you step into yours?

Let me, then, leave you today with this last thought…

You are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And, best of all, you do not need anyone’s permission to be—unapologetically—who you are.

1. Hardy, D. (2010, 2020). The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success, p. 58. [↩]