I’ve just come off a call with my coach in San Francisco. Andrea is amazing – she’s a Life Empowerment Coach and has been guiding me with much love and patience on a journey of self-discovery over the past six months. Pretty scary work sometimes, choosing to look at my fears and the patterns that play out again and again that hold me back from becoming who I want to be in life and business.
I have homework today! And so I am turning that into a blog post here, just in case you might also share these feelings and experiences too. You’re not alone.
Face your deepest fears
My deepest fears, we discovered are judgement and rejection. And these fears stem from a subconscious core belief of unworthiness.
This plays out in my life in procrastination. When I doubt that I am ‘enough’, procrastination is a very effective way of avoiding the risk of putting my work out there where it can be judged….. so I take another course, read another blog, watch another video, attend another webinar, download another white paper, ask another opinion. All in the search of a perfection that simply does not exist.
I often don’t trust my inner voice, the spark of inspiration that planted the seed of an idea in the first place. So I take my precious seed of an idea, the glimmer of creativity, a newly forming thought or concept and I present it, tentatively to another person for their feedback.
And I hold my breath as they casually glance at it (as how can they possibly know how delicate and precious it is to me, I would not dare to communicate that fragility – “just when you have a moment, it’s not that important”).
Or I close my eyes as they pull out their microscope, looking at it from every angle, searching for the flaws (as I have asked for their honest opinion – “don’t hold back, I really want to know what you think”, whilst my heart is in my mouth).
How do we respond to feedback?
When I have their feedback, that feedback that I wanted and asked for, it may backfire on me.
If it’s positive – “were they just being kind to me”? = doubt. Or, if some suggestions were made for change = “Well, yep, that just confirms what I suspected, that is was a dumb idea”…
None of that sounds very healthy, does it? And often, it’s all going on under the surface without our conscious awareness. Until we realise something is not feeling right inside and become willing and courageous enough to ask for help in discovering exactly what that is. Why it is that I oscillate between excitement and inspiration and negativity and fear? How can I change this?
There is an alternative.
I’m learning that it’s about coming from a place of intrinsic worthiness. Recognising my innate tendency to default to seeking validation, approval, acknowledgement, to be made whole from the outside in. Realising the reality is that our foundations can only ever be built to last from the inside out.
Self-compassion is at the heart of this experience. When you become aware of defaulting to old patterns, reminding yourself that you are choosing a new way to live now. A rueful laugh – “I forgive myself for thinking I need approval, an external green light”.
Instead, I’ll write a new story. I’ll tell myself “the truth is I love what I have created. It’s in alignment with me, with who I am and what I believe and what is important to me. The truth is, it feels a little scary putting this out into the world without even a smidgen of approval from those around me. Like I’m jumping off without a safety net. But I’m going to do it anyway”.
Sometimes we need to take the first step even when we can’t possibly see the whole staircase. That’s when our courage is given the chance to grow, when we take another step forward into living our true wholehearted life.
Sometimes it’s as simple as taking a deep breath and hitting publish on a blog post.
Angela,
I absolutely love this post, so timely and real. Thanks for being so honest. Our ego wanting to be stroked and approved often gets in the way of our real intentions.
Monique (Mama Chia: http://www.mamachia.com.au)
Thanks Monique, I’m a big believer in the work of Brene Brown who says that when we bring our fears and things that we feel shame about into the light, they can’t survive…. it’s when they are left in the cupboard that they fester and grow…. Sharing may also provide the encouragement to someone else to do the same…… Freedom lies on the other side of bravery! I’m learning to be aware of my ego and then setting it aside, it’s a journey 🙂
That’s brillant, I love the self discovery journey and all that it offers. Often we are the only one getting in our own way. Much health and happiness, Monique
Thank you for sharing and pushing the polish button honey. I felt like I was reading my own feelings and fears that come up. You have courage, and that courage helps us all find our courage to be more and show up more thank you xoxox
Hey Megan, thanks so much for your feedback….. I believe courage begets courage so yes, when we take the risk to share our fears and are met with empathy, the layers can begin to peel away so we can commence our journey into being more and showing up more as you so beautifully described it above!
Beautiful, honest and heartfelt post Angela. I felt like you had crawled into my soul and were speaking on its behalf. I can relate to much of this especially the part about procrastination so then we find something else we can do that we think is going to help us become more productive when in reality it’s just robbing us of our own creativity. Thank you for sharing this x
Hi Nicole, you are so welcome – thanks for your lovely feedback. And yes, exactly! We think we need more information, more this, more that when if we just took a deep breath and stepped forward as we are, our creativity and purpose would be more than enough – let’s do it shall we? x
Hi lovely lady – so so so pleased that you pressed the little hot “publish ” button and shared your message – It is certainly an inspiration to all – none of us are immune to our fears, so I thank you for so daringly stepping up embracing your fears and doing what so many of want to do.
xx