The Curse of Indulgent Emotions: How You're Creating Mental Stress

Confusion, Overwhelm, Doubt, Worry, Exhaustion and Busyness, are emotions that we indulge in far too often.

What do I mean by indulge?

We choose to feel them, because they keep us from feeling things that we imagine will be far worse.

The definition of indulge is, “to allow oneself to enjoy the pleasure of.” Wait what?

We don’t enjoy the pleasure of worry or staying busy…or do we?

These indulgent emotions have a way of making us feel like we’re doing something productive and important in the short run, when truthfully, they are keeping us from achieving the results that we want in our lives.

That is why they are indulgent, they cost us our dreams.

Have you ever felt super busy and then arrived at the end of your day with nothing really important to show for it?

The busyness took over. It can feel like you’re taking massive action. When in reality you’re staying busy doing a whole lot of not much.

And what about worry? This sums it up pretty well.

" Worrying is a lot like a rocking chair, 
it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere. "

GLENN TURNER

Take a look at the short video below, that takes a closer look at how indulgent emotions may show up in our lives. Another tendency that you may want to learn more about is All or Nothing Thinking and ADHD. You can read more about that by clicking here.

Let's talk indulgent emotions with Shaun Roney of Revealed Path Life Coaching.

ADHD Tendencies and the Entrepreneur: Three Ways of Being

Being an entrepreneur isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes grit.

When you’re first getting started, it’s all about having the ability to get knocked down and get back up. Get knocked down again, and get back up. Over and over, obstacle after obstacle.

It seems so many people are Instafamous now (booming in business by all appearances on Instagram). The truth is a well curated page with oodles of followers does not a business make. There is so much more that must go on behind the scenes.

Work for yourself? Easier said then done.

Don’t get me wrong, it can be completely worth it. You’re just going to have to put in the work.

I was talking with a friend one day, we had both worked for start ups that had grown very large, and we were noticing that there are a few things to help you navigate being a solopreneur more successfully.

As your business is growing, three key perspectives stand out. Let’s call them the head, the heart and the eyes.

The head is the machine that is constantly thinking. It’s problem solving, strategizing, positioning and making decisions based on numbers. The heads primary consideration is mathematically what makes sense? Which way should we pivot for growth? In larger companies, it typically can be found in the roles of CFO, Accountant, and Sales.

The heart holds the compassion of the company. The part of the company that genuinely cares about the customer experience. The heart keeps pulse on the humans involved and leans more on intuition to make decisions. The heart is concerned about retention rates of both customers and employees. The heart is often found in Customer Service, HR, and CEO.

Last we have the eyes. The eyes are used for context and relevancy. Always looking to spot new trends on the horizon. Considering where the consumer is and how to connect with them. Reviewing processes for efficiency. Pulling branding together so that it’s cohesive. The eyes are often seen in Marketing, Analytics and Messaging.

Head, Heart and Eyes-all are necessary, which are you?

As your own boss, it’ll be helpful to remember all three. There are times when you’ll need a fresh perspective. Be aware of which place you’re making a decision from. Is it your head, your heart or your eyes.

Ask yourself why?

Ultimately you’ll want to have balance between the three. As you’re growing and bringing people onto your team, be aware of which they are.

As the saying goes, it takes all kinds to make the world go ‘round!

Decision Making: Why Is It So Hard To Choose?

What is it about making decisions that can feel so hard?

This comes up eventually in almost all of my coaching sessions.

A decision needs to be made, large, small, in between. It doesn’t really matter.

In the moment, it feels like a very large and very serious decision, no matter what it’s about. Life or death. For sure.

And for some reason it feels impossible to make it. To decide.

When I ask my clients why? Why is it hard to choose?

They tell me the following:

• “What if I make the wrong decision?”

• “What if I regret my decision?”

• “What if it turns out bad and I get blamed?”

• “What if the consequences are bad and my fault?”

• “What if I change my mind later?”

Let’s take a look at these a little bit closer.

Is there a such thing as a wrong decision?

What if everything worked in your favor no matter what you chose?

Romans 8:28 is a favorite verse of mine.

“And we know that for those who love God, that is, for those who are called according to his purpose, all things are working together for good.”

All things!

No matter what decision we make, it will happen FOR us.

Even if it feels like it’s not working out the way we intended, or desired, we can have faith in the fact that in the larger picture it will contribute to our good.

What is regret?

According to the dictionary, regret is: a feeling of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over something that has happened or been done.

Let me repeat the first part…regret is a feeling.

What do we know about feelings?

That we create them ourselves with what we choose to think.

We can think a thought, like “I knew I should’ve chosen the other one. Now I’m stuck with this.” and feel regret.

Or we can think a thought like “I got the perfect one for me. How do I know that? Because it’s the one that I have.” and feel confident in our selection.

Who decides if something’s bad?

And who decides if we feel blame?

Good news again! We do.

For every single thing that happens, we get to decide if we are going to find the bad in it or the good in it. There’s always both.

Let’s say something doesn’t go as planned, and someone “blames you for making the wrong decision”. You get to decide if you want to agree with them and join that party, or not.

Let them think what they want. They will anyways. You get to decide if you want to think the same thing.

The good thing about others being allowed to think whatever they want, is we get to do the same thing!

Next time you’re faced with a decision treat it like a band aid that you forgot was there. It needs to come off and the faster the better.

Ask yourself if either option worked out perfectly, exactly the way that you wanted them to, which would you choose then?

Go with that one.

You feel stuck because you’re delaying the decision. Making a choice actually takes less than 30 seconds.

Rather than choosing an option, and making the decision, you’re choosing to stay stuck.

It’s not happening to you. You’re choosing it.

You make a decision the same way. Just choose.

If you think you may need a life coach in your life, I’d love to talk with you. Book a free 45 minute mini-session to find out what it’s all about and how it can help you launch into the next version of yourself!