Most of us are fighting an internal negative narrative.
We dwell on the times we fell short. We remember the times we failed. We tell ourselves we aren’t good enough. We blame ourselves for everything. And that is the unfortunate narrative that replays in our quiet moments.
That negative self talk will infiltrate the subconscious and wreck havoc on our lives until we say ENOUGH.
We have to reject the negative narrative.
Our inner critic would settle for nothing more than a limited life based on a feeling of lack and falling far short of our potential.
Our inner critic would have us miss the most amazing moments, opportunities, or whole lifetimes of possibility for nothing more than the same self sabotaging beliefs about who we are and where we fit in.
I’m speaking from experience.
In New Again, I talk about the freedom I found in letting go of labels that automatically grouped me with people solely because we had one thing in common. But this is still something I’m working through on a new level.
These days, I have to battle that negative narrative that makes it easy to believe I’m not worthy of anything better than my present situation.
Regardless if anything good or bad presents itself, my first instinct is to make make myself small because either I don’t deserve the good or the bad confirms why I need to stay small. My inner critic guilts me into believing I shouldn’t have a spot at the table and the second I start to make my place, I allow the chair to be pulled out from under me.
I finally said, “Enough.”
My life is up to me! Living below what’s possible is no one else’s doing. It’s not even happenstance or circumstance. Living small comes down to not having enough self respect to think for myself, and take calculated action toward the life I desire.
It’s so easy to just adopt the identity the world gives us.
But we are not meant to be labeled, generalized, or judged by the world. No two people are the same and each of us has a spirit that is way bigger than our flesh and blood. Our spirit is our highest self, but is easily bound and kept hidden away.
If we can just cut the shit, we can rise up.
Whatever reduces you, takes your chair from the table, or keeps you from being your highest, most authentic self is “shit” in my opinion. We need to let go of the shit. The shit is not ours. The shit is not a reflection of us. It’s just shit… We are separate.
We are not what people say about us. And other people are not what we say about them. We are not our opportunities or downfalls and neither is anyone else.
Just as we can not be put into a single box, neither should any other human.
The person we really are, stems from the person we believe we are.
Who you are is who you choose to be. It’s a matter of choosing our highest self over our inner critic over and over and over again.
Our thoughts make up our actions and our actions make up our lives.
We are the cause and the world we create for ourselves is the effect. Living to our potential is an inherent responsibility if we want to live a better life.
We must take every opportunity to choose our truth and align it with new persistent thoughts in accordance with creating the good we want to experience, the life we want to live… and ultimately the person we want to be.
What we think about most, what we believe, is a reflection of who we will become.
Life Practice
- Respect your worthiness with love and (not or) tenacity.
- Follow your spirt and not the shit (2 Timothy 1:7)
- Replace negative narratives with positive ones until you believe you are capable–and you will be.
