Someone once said that “it isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” That someone was Muhammad Ali. Many may remember him as a clever wit, a force for good, and an amazing athlete.
What does it mean to have “the pebble in your shoe”? A metaphor to describe when someone experiences difficulty, it appears like a small difficulty at first. As a person continues to walk with it in their shoe, it becomes more and more apparent that it is harming you. It can cause a deep amount of frustration or pain over time, but we might only see a problem as small… just a “pebble”.
What does it mean to have what appears to be a small problem begin to take so much space in our lives. It can become all encompassing! This apparent “small” thing becomes… everything. It may become difficult to get even get through perhaps the day. It may just wear you down over time.
Similarly, sometimes it seems that we have everything in our lives under complete control. And then maybe something keeps taking up space… whether it be depression, anxiety, or just a frustration of a different sort. It’s sitting there, part of our lives, and at some point… we may begin to pay attention to it’s impact.
In order to pay attention to it, we need to see it… to believe that the problem is there. Sometimes we make excuses for why we feel the way we feel. Sometimes it means finally paying attention to the thing that is sitting right in front of us in our lives. We can give ourselves permission to face the problem.
This is when we can take the opportunity to become empowered to do something about it. It means that we can take our power back and decide for ourselves whether this pebble really gets to run our lives.
We can opt to decide for ourselves that to be empowered means to craft a way to engage in participating actively in the decision making of our lives so that the “pebble” or problem is no longer there, lessened, or a whole new approach can be taken.
In what ways do you see a “pebble” in your shoe? What would it mean to empower yourself to improve your life?
Tips to Empower Yourself:
- Develop and maintain a habit of positive thinking
- Become aware of your values and what’s important to you, what’s your “why”?
- Set short-term, achievable goals
- Gain a sense of control by developing personal accountability
- Nourish your physical and mental wellness through self-care
- Be intentional about what you choose to pay attention to
- Shift your mindset by releasing limiting beliefs
These are all strategies that you can work on independently, or working with a therapist or coach can help with the accountability and processing of some of the barriers that get in your way. A therapist can’t pull the pebble out for you, but they can certainly assist you in learning the ways to do it yourself.
Marilyn Tulloch-Ferri, MS, LCPC. Psychotherapist, Illuminate Therapy & Wellness, PLLC
