We asked Courtney Ramirez to be our Awesome Apprentice; she’s taking the 52 Weeks to Awesome course and will be writing us a post at the end of each month to share her experiences with us.

Getting Unstuck by Nurturing Yourself

If you aren’t reaching your goals, conventional wisdom says you’re not working hard enough. You need to run faster, push harder, lose more sleep, and generally stress yourself out in order to WIN IT ALL!

If this type of thinking leaves a bad taste in your mouth, we’re in the same headspace.

The lesson that hit home hardest this month in the 52 weeks to Awesome course was a lesson about following through on your dreams and reaching your goals.

There are four things in play when you achieve your dreams: goals, taste, inspiration, and energy.

One of the key aspects missing in most motivational courses is the aspect of energy. Energy is what drives your motivation to be able to work on your goals. It helps you follow through on your initial inspiration. So without energy, you’re not going to get anywhere. It doesn’t matter how much you try to make it happen if energy isn’t there to begin with. It’s like beating a dead horse.

Nurturing yourself is a key to reaching your dreams and seeing your goals through. If you haven’t yet reached your dreams you may feel like you need to push harder – but that rarely works! Looking inward rather than pushing outward will get you a lot further.

Here are three ways to nurture yourself so you can get unstuck:

Get enough sleep!

Sleep is highly underrated. Without proper sleep, you’re not going to think as clearly. You’re not going to act as kindly. You’re not going to be the best you that you can be. Carve out time for sleep. Try some chamomile tea or herbal supplements to help if you find it difficult to sleep. Make sure that you create great sleep habits so you can support your energy.

Take deep breaths.

“The Energy Prescription” (by Constance Grauds) was an eye-opener for me with regards to deep breathing. The book focuses on several practices that can increase your energy – and deep breathing is the first step. Like most of us, I always knew that deep breathing could help, but I never made time for it. It often slipped my mind. Thanks to Constance’s book, I started completing 10 deep breaths twice a day. I was absolutely shocked at the results. Whether or not you regularly exercise, try the deep breaths. You might be surprised.

Give your brain a break.

Sometimes when you’re working toward your dreams, you might feel single minded and ultra-focused on the task in front of you. You push everything aside and become obsessed with your dream. But just like a runner, you can’t sprint forever. You need a break. You need to give your brain a break!

Creativity comes from relaxation. Take some time off. Step away from your email, from social media, from the computer. Play! Run through the grass with your shoes off.

Have fun – and you’ll find yourself more energized and closer to reaching your dreams.

Courtney Ramirez is a content, seo and marketing superhero consultant by day and geeky BBC sitcom watching mom and wife by night. When not developing carpal tunnel by writing for her clients or playing the Sims, she’s homeschooling two girls and toying around with the idea of starting a new blog. You can follow her on Twitter.