I hear it all the time.
“My life sucks. I hate my life.”
Usually, at some point, they stop and take a breath and I ask the $92,000 question.
“What are you going to do about it?”
That’s when they look somewhere between a deer in headlights and as if I slapped them across the face.
Then they say it.
“I can’t do anything. It is what it is.”
(PS. If you use that phrase. Make today the day you stop.)
Ugh. Powerless much?
Even worse, sometimes that one question will open the floodgates to the zillions of reasons other people are to blame . Holding them back, being mean, difficult, expectations too high, too low, you name it.
It’s messed up.
From deep down in that rut, it’s impossible to see what’s really happening.
No one is going to come over to you, take your hand, and change your life for you. They’re not going to make it amazing or happy or successful or fulfilling. All that is up to you and the truth is that it’s in your control.
No “it is what it is.” That’s a lie. The truth is: Life is what you make it.
Related: How Will You Know When You Have Enough?
It’s interesting, from the outside, I’ll bet you can tell when your friends, family, and colleagues are struggling and need to make a change. However, when it comes to noticing that you’re sucking it up again and again, and suffering instead of thriving , you’re less than skilled.
Here are 15 signs that yes, a change is definitely in order. How many ring true for you? One? Five? Fifteen? How many will it take for you to stop saying silliness like “it is what it is,” get out of a rut, and make that change?