You are standing at the edge of a dock. A frigid lake is just a few inches beneath your feet. You’re excited, yet scared. You know it’s going to be a shock at first, but once you’re in, you’ll feel euphoric and refreshed. You move as if you’re going to jump in but you stop yourself, you count down from three over and over again, only thinking about the painful few seconds of icy, wet discomfort.
After a few minutes of going back and forth, you finally wipe your mind of all thoughts and fears, and you DIVE in head first! Your body goes from pure shock to pure bliss. Feeling one with the water as you catch your breath and your body temperature adjusts. You feel proud of yourself. So much so that you’re ready to do it a second time, just to feel that adrenaline rush as you overcome your mind’s hurdle of leaping in once again.
Have you ever experienced something like this?
Most of us do in all areas of our lives. But in many cases we don’t actually jump in at all. We let our limited thinking take over and our fears get the best of us, keeping us right where we are, in that safe, certain, dry comfort zone.
The actions we most often take are where our beliefs and confidence lie. Jumping in is an action, but so is not jumping in. The more we jump in, do the things we say we’re going to do and do what we’re afraid of doing, the more belief and confidence we gain in our ability to show up and succeed at what we set out to do.
The action of inaction feeds our doubts, fears, limitations and insecurities. This tends to leave us feeling more certainty in the fact that we will most likely fail and not do what we say we’re going to do. So what’s the point in trying anyways, right?…
Leaping towards uncertainty, our growth and goals feed our faith, trust, belief, resilience and confidence.
Which one are you more consistently feeding?
Which one do you want to be feeding?
The longer we wait to take action, speak up, jump in, press start or send, the longer we have to think and dwell upon potential outcomes, create fear, stories and excuses that keep us in our comfort zones. Never feeling proud of ourselves, never building confidence or belief in ourselves, never feeling true bliss and euphoria, never pushing past the limitations we’ve placed upon ourselves.
Everyday we have the opportunity to choose differently.
How do we do this?
Hint: You don’t have to jump into a freezing cold lake everyday…unless of course you want to.
Have you been self-sabotaging, creating doubt and insecurity in yourself?
The words we say to ourselves and then the actions that follow are powerful. More powerful than we think.
Many of us go through our days telling ourselves we’re going to do this and that..but we never get around to it, we don’t jump in. We “tomorrow” all of it for days, weeks, months, even years.
We put off the little promises we’ve made to the version of ourselves that’s ready for the excitingly expansive, discomfort of growth. When we continue putting it off, we get stuck in this comfort zone that makes us feel incapable, stagnant and unworthy.
Have you ever had a friend, coworker, partner, or loved one like that? ALL talk, NO action? Everything they said they were going to do, they never ended up doing?
Did you trust them? Did you have confidence and belief in them?
Are you being that all talk, no action, unreliable friend or partner to yourself?
I know I was, for so long! And it was mirrored in so much of my life and so many of my relationships, romantic and platonic.
I would put people on a pedestal, making their needs and my word to them more important than my needs and my word to myself.
Now let me tell you, that’s a recipe for disappointment, trust issues, insecurity and some major feelings of unworthiness.
But the good new is if YOU are doing that, YOU have the power to change it!
It all starts from building trust within ourselves.
Let’s start making little daily promises to ourselves that we stick to. Nothing over the top. Nothing we aren’t 100% sure we can commit to.
Let’s build our belief within ourselves, little by little, so we have more self confidence… so we trust that we CAN and WILL do what we say we are going to do. And may we dive in without hesitation, only thinking about how blissful and refreshed we’re going to feel, ready to make the jump again and again.
With love,
Andrea
With Love, Andrea 