From The EQ School:
“Changing old patterns, ending relationships you’ve outgrown, raising children, creating from your core, letting go, stretching, growing, and stepping into the unknown.
The more worthwhile endeavors require you to show up vulnerably & honestly, and they leave space for something new to happen.”
They go on:
“All of my familiar self-protective parts are showing up to remind me of the vulnerability that is required when I step into new places. When I let myself be someone new in the world.
I feel the anxious thoughts creep in about what could go wrong,
about how I might be judged,
about what could happen,
about how unsafe it is to expose myself.
And then I remember that this is a normal part of the growth process, especially when you’re stepping into something you’ve never done before.
My wonderful, protective, survival-oriented little brain is trying to keep me safe by pulling me back into familiar territory.
It crops up whenever I step into new territory – when I dare to allow myself to try something I’ve never done before.
But once I’ve done the thing once or twice, and I realize that I am safe and it’s okay for me to do this thing, that voice quiets.
I’ve proven to myself that I can do this many times.
This is why emotional self management is important – it’s learning to sit with the discomfort that is required for growth. Learning to discern between the type of discomfort that helps us grow and the discomfort that is your life blood being drained from your being (or telling you that something truly isn’t safe or in alignment with you).”
(Via Kottke)