What do you do when people don't want to change?

I've been processing some of the things going on in the world lately, along with things happening in my own life.

And sometimes when I process heavy things, I start to feel overwhelmed:

- What am I supposed to do with that?
- What's my purpose in that?
- How do I handle this?

I get so drawn in, I find myself ending up in a mental storm.

And one of the things I've recognized that I have to remind myself—as I'm here to remind you today—is...

We're all doing the best we can.

And I know right now some of you might be like, "NO Dawn, I don't think X person is doing the best they can."

But do the best you can (ah, see what I did there?) and hear me out...

(⬇️ Btw, watch instead of reading, or read on below.)

- If you've ever followed someone driving slowly in traffic...
- Or gotten cut off in traffic...
- Or you've had people blocking your way at the grocery store...
- Or there's someone in your life that's hurt you...

You've probably thought "That person definitely didn't do their best."

And I want to challenge you for a minute—and it's something I'm challenging myself on as well— 

To think that we're all doing our best, with the information and knowledge and experiences we have at the time.

I'm turning this inward too...

I've looked back at plenty of seasons in my life where I'm like, "Wow...that was not your best moment."

But I was doing the best I could at that time, with the information, knowledge and experiences I had.

And until some internal switch was finally flipped, I wasn't even aware there were other ways to be.

Now, that doesn't mean there weren't people in my life saying, 👋"Hey, you're going the wrong way. Stop doing that."

It was that I wasn't in a place or position to hear them. I wasn't listening.

We have to remember to give ourselves AND others grace. We all grow at different paces, we all have different experiences, and we all grow differently from those experiences.

I get the opportunity to coach a lot of different people, and one of the things I'm most trusted with is the things people aren't ready to work on.

And I need to give them space for that. 

So sometimes I just have to receive information and wait. Wait until they're curious enough, or in a space to finally hear something to make a change.

And until then, there's grace.

Grace that's in alignment with who I am, and space that's in alignment with who they are—and when they're ready to do better. 

(Now, having grace for people doesn't mean we have to continue to put ourselves in a space that's unhealthy for us. And of course it doesn't mean we stay quiet if something's unsafe or unhealthy for them. We have to use our wisdom in those situations.)  

Does this help lessen your mental storms? Does this help you to have more grace for others, even when you don't think they're doing the best you could?

Because it's not about us...it's about them.