In this episode of Diary of a Dreamer, part of the Mastering Resilience series, I share a personal story about collapsing on my way to the bathroom and how it taught me a valuable lesson about goal-setting. No matter how strong your mindset, some things are out of your control.
I talk about the importance of setting goals, making adjustments when life doesn’t go as planned, finding humor in the chaos, and celebrating each step of the journey.
Life’s unpredictable, but resilience is about taking it one step at a time. Tune in for a reminder that you can still live your dreams, even in the face of setbacks!
Read the Transcript
00:00 Tasha: Welcome to Diary of a Dreamer, where resilience unlocks your potential. I’m Tasha Eizinger, and each week I’ll bring you powerful stories and practical insights from my own experiences and inspiring guests. Whether you’re facing challenges or chasing dreams, this podcast is your go-to for motivation, building confidence, and practical tips for transforming obstacles into opportunities. Let’s dive into today’s episode and start turning your dreams into reality.
00:58 Tasha: But the reality is, some things really are out of our control, and we can do the best we can to have a strong mindset, to put plans in place, and yet we can fall. There’s one particular moment I will always remember. As you might remember from one of the previous episodes, I would have to coach myself throughout the day just to get through it, and I would take what seemed like a big goal and break it down into little goals, and coach myself through encouraging myself and taking breaks along the way to get to whatever that end goal was. But this one particular moment, I was incredibly exhausted. I had overdone it, and by the time I got home, I could barely stand up.
01:52 Tasha: I was laying on the couch trying to regroup, knowing that I probably wouldn’t be moving from the couch. There was no way I was going to be able to crawl upstairs to go to bed that night, so this would definitely be a night my husband would have had to carefully carry me upstairs to go to bed. That’s how weak I was. Yet, I had to go to the bathroom.
02:11 Tasha: Anybody who’s had a surgery or has been sick with a really bad flu or cold, you know when you have to go to the bathroom, maybe you lay there and think, do I really have to go? Yeah, I really have to go. Ugh. And you wait as long as you can. The couch to the bathroom. The couch to the bathroom was not very far, probably only 10 feet, so I refused to ask my husband to carry me, because I thought it was less than a year ago you hiked a mountain in Montana. It was less than a year ago you ran a half marathon. You are going to walk to the bathroom.
02:47 Tasha: Your body can do more than it thinks it can, and you’re getting there. So I thought about those 10 feet. At that moment, I didn’t compare myself to the past. I was thinking, this is embarrassing. I can’t believe that 10 feet is too far. It was, you can do this. You’ve got this. So I took that 10 feet, and I thought, okay, I need to push myself up off the couch and stand there for a second, and then I’ll walk to the end of the couch, and I can take a little break there if I need one.
03:18 Tasha: And there was a half wall that I could put my hand on, and I thought, once I get to that half wall, I can put my hand on the other wall. And use my hands to balance me, and then get to the counter, which was only a few steps away, and then I would use my hands on the walls to walk the few steps to get to the bathroom, and then I could go to the bathroom. This seemed daunting at the time, because it was, but I thought, this is my plan. Your body can do more than it thinks it can. You’ve got this. So I pushed myself up from the couch. Got my balance. Took a little breath.
04:00 Tasha: In my head, I said, great job. Your first goal is accomplished. Now you’re going to get to the end of the couch. And I’m saying this all in my head, of course. I get to the end of the couch. I take a moment, and I turn a little bit so that I can grab onto the half wall, and my legs get out. I collapsed. I collapsed on my way to the bathroom that was less than 10 feet away. And after almost a year.
04:27 Tasha: Of no answers, and no results from the doctors, and not knowing why I was so sick, and going through every day, doing my best to have a strong mindset. In that moment, I had had it. And I screamed out in anger. I could not believe, at 26 years old, this was my life. And when you don’t know why, you don’t know how to get better. I was willing to do what it took to get better. I just didn’t know what to do. My husband rushed over to help me get up. Out of my anger, I yelled at him, no, I am doing this myself.
05:04 Tasha: It was almost as if he helped me go to the bathroom that I was giving in to whatever was making me so sick. I know that may seem silly, but to me, it was really important in the moment. Now that I’m in my 40s, I probably would have been like, thank you for wanting to help. I need to do this for myself. I allowed myself to feel better. I allowed myself to feel that anger, and I let it fuel me, gave me like a little surge of adrenaline. And I pulled myself up using the half wall, steadied myself, and my husband stood behind me just in case I was going to fall again.
05:41 Tasha: And it took me extra long to get to the bathroom because I was so weak. So I still followed a similar plan, it just took me longer, and I leaned on the counter when I got to the counter that was only a few steps away from the half wall. And I slowly made it to the bathroom. I sat down on the toilet, and I thought, I made it. I did it. And then I laughed and was like, oh, shit, this is only halfway. I got to get back to the couch. This wasn’t the actual goal. This was the first big goal. Now I got to get back to the couch. So you have to find laughter too when you’re going through hard times.
06:14 Tasha: But I have really thought about this moment a lot when it comes to goal setting and living your life to the best of your ability. So number one, you need to know your goal and it would help if you know the actual goal, right? It’s not just getting to the toilet, it’s getting to the couch and back to the couch. But know your goal, create a plan. So break it down into smaller steps, celebrate a little bit on the way. And I’m not great at the celebrating part, but I do try to smile and say, great job, or you did it. And take a moment. Some people are really good at celebrating, which that’s awesome. So you do what makes sense for you. Be aware of your self-talk. I didn’t berate myself. I didn’t say this is so embarrassing. I can’t believe you.
07:09 Tasha: I chose to say things like your body can do more than it thinks it can. Like my high school coach taught me in swimming, or you can do this, or I know this is hard, but keep going. You’ve got this. You can do this one step at a time. So those would be the things that I would say to myself, depending on the size of your goal, you might fall flat on your face. That can be part of it. Sometimes allow yourself to feel the feelings of anger, disappointment, sadness, frustration, whatever your feelings are, feel them and allow them to fuel you to move forward. Do not let those feelings hold you back or destroy who you are or make you give up on your goal or your dream. You might need to adjust it, but if it’s in your heart, there’s a reason. And make any necessary adjustments along the way. It might take longer than you expected. It will probably take longer than you expected. It will probably take longer than you expected. That’s something I’ve learned about most of my goals and dreams. It’s been a little bit harder than I expected. Make adjustments and also find ways to have humor and laugh, even in your hardest situations. If you can find moments to laugh, not even necessarily about the situation. And it might even feel foreign to laugh or it might be too hard, but that could be a goal to get to the point that you can laugh again. Hardships are part of life and our lives are a series of small steps. I know like what we see on social media, it can make it look like people have picture perfect lives, but that’s not real life. It’s not how life works. It’s not quick fixes and quick results. Life is something that takes time. So we all have either experienced hardships or will experience them in the future. And I think if we can adjust our perspectives and work through them, life can be a little bit better with a little less suffering and a little less struggling. But even if you’re going through a great time period in your life right now, know your goals and create your plans and apply all of this to your life because it’s applicable in the good times and in the hard times. I know you can live your dreams one step at a time, and I hope you have the courage to pursue them.
09:34 Tasha: Thank you for tuning into this episode of Diary of a Dreamer. I hope you found the stories shared today to be a source of motivation and strength. Remember, every challenge you face is a chance to grow and move closer to your dreams. Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this podcast with anyone who could use a boost of encouragement.