From the Lake to the Ocean: A Thought on Growth and Flow 🌊

A Thought That’s Been Mulling Around

A pretty popular thought has been mulling around my mind for a while now. It’s this idea of where you want to go. What’s the goal of where you want to be heading?

It starts with creating a positive mindset around that goal. Then it’s about working backwards. Breaking it down into smaller, achievable pieces.

The problem is, like a lot of people, I don’t always have the patience for those things to be achieved. And it occurred to me that the reason for that is judgment. A lot of judgment on my part about where I think I should be or how much I think I should be doing.

Has that ever happened to you?

When you get into that mindset, when you judge what you are doing, it sort of cancels out what you were trying to accomplish in the first place. Our own mind can be our worst enemy.

And what I’ve noticed is that this judgment usually shows up when we’re actually getting closer to the thing we want. It’s like the subconscious creates an obstacle so we don’t fully arrive.

Watch my new podcast below.

The Lake and the Ocean

This morning, during my version of meditation — which is shower thinking — I got an idea.

I think all of us want to be in flow. We want to be in the ocean. We want to be in the big movement of things. We want the things we do to succeed. We want people to like what we put out there. And in the back of our mind, there’s a quiet thought asking, “Is this it? Is this the big one?”

At the same time, even if we want it, there’s a part of us that is scared to actually have it. So we stay in the lake.

The lake is safe. There’s not a lot of movement. We get to stay in control. But we still want to dip our toes into the ocean. We want the experience. Just not the overwhelm.

Trying to Re-enter Flow

So we try the river. The river has flow, too. But sometimes the current is too fast, and it feels like too much. So we go back to the lake. And in that return to the lake, we feel disappointed. We judge ourselves for not staying in the flow.

And then we try again.

But maybe the answer is not to push ourselves into the river or the ocean. Maybe the answer is to start with the stream. And if the stream still feels like a lot, we can start with a brook.

Because in the brook, the current is gentle. It still moves. It’s not stagnant. And some people might even prefer the bay. The bay has current. There is movement. But it’s calmer. The waves don’t crash. It’s steady.

Start Where the Current Is Gentle

When the big goal feels too far away, maybe it makes more sense to start with something that feels more achievable. Somewhere with movement and challenge, but also with safety.

The lake is the place where nothing is really happening. The lake is where we stagnate. And I think the real issue is that we feel like we need to go from standing still to doing everything all at once.

But maybe what we actually need is to begin where there is just enough flow to help us grow. Just enough challenge to stretch us. Without biting off the whole thing.

Eventually, we move. From the bay to the brook. From the brook to the stream. From the stream to the river. And then, one day, into the ocean.

You Can’t Jump Straight to Expert

It made sense to me this morning. And I think it applies to so many things. Working out. Learning something new. You cannot go from knowing nothing to being an expert overnight.

And sometimes just thinking about being that expert is so overwhelming that it stops us in our tracks.

So we start smaller. We build confidence. We get our sea legs. And then, little by little, we move into bigger waters.

Let me know what you think. It just kind of showed up in my thoughts today.