Sometimes it can be challenging to stay consistent, whether it be because of an unexpected life change or a stressful time at work. The best thing you can do to continue to reach your goals is to embrace the struggle and lean in because that is how you will transform. Think about this story:
There's a little boy playing out side and he finds a caterpillar. He scoops it up into his hands and brings it into the house to show his mom: Mom, what is it? Can I keep it? he asks. Of course, his mother says yes of course and so they put him in a little fish tank. Every day the little boy puts more leaves for the caterpillar to eat. One day, he comes home and he can't find the caterpillar. His mom explains to him that the caterpillar is inside the cocoon and has to take himself away from the world for a time so he can go through the change process and transform into a beautiful butterfly. About a week later the caterpillar starts to come out of the cocoon. The boy watches while it struggles and decides that he is going to help his caterpillar, so he goes and grabs his army knife and cuts the cocoon open. Instead of flying like the little boy thought it would, the caterpillar falls to the bottom of the tank and starts crawling around--its head to large and its wings too weak to fly.
What the little boy did not know is that when the caterpillar was struggling to get out of the cocoon, the fluid from his head was supposed to seep down into the rest of his body and into his wings, giving him the strength to fly. Because the little boy made the journey easier for him, the caterpillar is never going to fly.
Just like the caterpillar, there will be seasons when you will have to cut away from the world and pull back a little bit to focus on you and to grow and develop. But as long as you power through, the struggle is going to give you the strength on the other side.
