But what does it truly take to be ready?
Namaste!
It’s my second week of the 21-day Yoga Challenge with Habuild, and I’ve been diligently journaling my experiences.
As I mentioned in my last post, I took a break from journaling yesterday but stayed consistent with my yoga practice. Interestingly, yesterday’s online session focused on fixing our routines — something I’ll dive into in a later post.
But here’s the exciting part: something unexpected and intriguing happened yesterday!
In my previous post, I shared details about the 14-day Yoga Challenge and even spread the word through my WhatsApp status and to a few health-conscious friends in my circle.
My only intention was to share something that had benefitted me, hoping others might find it helpful too. I had no expectations about whether they would join or not.
Interestingly, I observed three kinds of responses:
- The Eager Participants — These were people who joined the challenge directly from the link in my post, without any extra nudge from me.
- The Curious Ones — They had questions, clarified their doubts with me, and then decided to join.
- The Reluctant Decliners — These were individuals who felt they couldn’t join and explained their reasons to me, unprompted.
And, of course, some remained unbothered and didn’t respond at all — which is absolutely fine.
I am truly happy and grateful for those who chose to join in.
However, one thing did bother me: I noticed a common thread among the reluctant decliners — a sense of guilt and unease while explaining their reasons for not joining. It made me feel bad, and that’s what inspired this post!
If you’re someone who hasn’t taken up this challenge yet, I hear you — I’ve been there too.
Honestly, I didn’t actively seek out a yoga class myself. It was my cousin who forwarded me details about this challenge, and that’s how I got started.
Believe me, I’ve come across plenty of similar challenges, forwards, and encouragements in the past. I’ve even searched for online and offline classes myself, but nothing ever clicked.
Yet here I am, now in my second week of this yoga challenge, encouraging you to give yourself a chance and some time.
So, what changed?
Many people would say, “Everything falls into place when you’re ready.” I’ve said this myself on occasion, but I feel differently now.
While I still believe this saying can help us navigate tough times with optimism, I also feel that it shifts too much power to chance.
Instead, why not ask ourselves a follow-up question: “What does it truly take to be ready?”
By asking this, we take the responsibility of action into our own hands. We can do our part and then leave the outcome to chance, but we shouldn’t just wait for things to happen magically.
So, what does it truly take to be ready?
In my case, for over a decade, I managed the symptoms of my autoimmune condition to the point where I could avoid daily medications.
But in the past few months, I started noticing new symptoms, and they were concerning. I knew that if I didn’t take action now, I risked more severe symptoms that might require regular medication or frequent hospitalizations — neither of which I wanted to face.
My intention to heal and regain my energy grew stronger. As a result, my health became my top priority.
Over the past few months, I took a step back to analyze both my personal and professional life and realign my priorities.
I reduced the number of freelance projects I took on, downsized my garden, avoided unnecessary travel, and switched from typing to using pen and paper (whenever possible).
I also returned to painting, now working on reducing my screen time, and embrace a simpler, more minimalistic lifestyle — all while continuing to prioritize meditation, which has been my grounding factor and healing grace for the past six years.
More importantly, I identified my flaws and took the time to journal about them. It wasn’t a lack of knowledge that kept me from working on my health — it was my lack of consistency. I believe that this self-awareness and reflection helped me get ready, and from there, things began to fall into place.
Here’s what I believe truly makes us ready:
- A strong and clear intention — knowing your why
- Single-focus
- Eliminating distractions
- Identifying setbacks and taking responsibility and action
- Surrendering to the universe or a higher power while continuing to do your part
As a final thought, here’s what I have for you: If you can’t take it up now, that’s okay. You are only obligated to yourself.
Remember, everything will fall into place when you’re ready. But ask yourself this — what action can you take today to get yourself ready for things to fall into place?
That’s the wrap for the day. See you tomorrow.
Stay you, stay awesome!
P.S: This post was first published, here.
