Here’s the fundamental truth: life includes challenging tasks and difficult decisions, no matter what path you take. The question isn’t whether you’ll face something hard; it’s whether you’ll consciously choose which hard things you’re willing to embrace… or whether you’ll let circumstances and old patterns choose for you.
Pause and ask yourself: What hard am I willing to choose? And why is it worth it?
My Hard Choice: The Solopreneur Path
The most challenging choice I make year after year is to be a solopreneur. The decision to be a hypnotherapist and transformational guide comes straight from my heart. That’s not a choice, that’s a calling. But the decision to run my own practice, to be a solopreneur? That’s a business decision that requires entirely different skills and produces ever-changing challenges. Being a solopreneur frequently drains, frustrates, and worries me. The technology, the marketing, the administrative work, the financial uncertainty: these are real, ongoing challenges.
So why do I keep choosing it?
Because I love the connection with my clients, I love watching them make changes in their lives that they couldn’t make before. I love watching people blossom and walk into an entirely different sort of life—a life they have intentionally chosen and created. It fills my heart and soul with joy.
I never get tired of this. I love it. And that love is worth the hard.
Your “Why” Matters
This is why knowing your “why” is essential. When you understand why you’re choosing something hard, it creates a depth of acceptance that diminishes nagging worries and circumstantial stress. I check in with myself often about the solopreneur path. Wouldn’t it be easier to just write books? Is this still the path I want to pursue? Every time I ask, the answer is the same: Yes, because my why is so clear.
Knowing my why helps me accept the challenging parts of this choice, and that acceptance makes them easier to handle. Acceptance doesn’t mean the difficult parts disappear; it means their power to drain you lessens.
The Freedom of Experimenting
Choosing your hard doesn’t mean you’re locked in forever. We often stay in old patterns, a form of subconscious “hard” we never chose, because we’re afraid of choosing something new. What if we choose wrong? What if it doesn’t work out?
Perhaps a new approach to these worries will help. What would happen if you said to yourself, “This is an experiment. Let me experiment in my thoughts first and explore another route. Let me experiment with this hard choice, knowing I can change my mind.” When you treat your choices as experiments, you stay firmly in a state of curiosity. Curiosity keeps you in a neutral emotional state, and from that neutral space, you can gather information. You can evaluate how you’re feeling. You can notice what resonates and what doesn’t.
You’re not failing if you change your mind. You’re gathering data about what serves you.
Choose Your Hard AND Choose Your Nurture
And remember to choose your nurture too! The point is to choose not just the hard, but also the balance. To be aware that the challenging task you’ve chosen needs to be offset by other activities. How do you nurture yourself? Are you an introvert who likes to curl up with a good book? Are you an extrovert who wants to have a party? What kind of physical movement appeals to you? Yoga? Hiking? Riding horses? Skiing? Working out at the gym? Do you prefer to pursue these activities alone or with others?
These are individual choices. The point is to first be aware that you have a choice, and then to exercise that power.
Your Invitation
First, I invite you to consider: What hard thing am I carrying that I never consciously chose? What old pattern am I repeating out of fear rather than intention?
Then ask: What hard thing is worth choosing? What do I want so deeply that I’m willing to embrace the challenges that come with it?
And finally: How will I nurture myself while I walk this path?
Remember… you are a sovereign being. You get to choose!
I’d love to help elevate you to the highest version of yourself. If you’d like to learn about how we can work together, I invite you to fill out my intake form.