My focus for this year is to be courageous – you can read more about this in my blog post on choosing a word for the year. In 2017, I did some really exciting things, and I could have done more exciting things if I had been more courageous. I’m now focusing my energy on doing things that excite me and also scare me. You know the sorts of things I mean – the things that you have been wondering about for a long time and keep coming back to, but you’re holding yourself back from in case you ‘fail’ or in case it’s difficult.
In my case, there’s an organisation that I feel I align well with and I’ve been wondering what it would be like to work with them. I can see how I could support them and the people they work with and it excites me. I had no idea how I might get to fulfil that dream, but I knew I wasn’t going to get there if I didn’t actively do something. I decided to call them. Did I call them straight away? Of course not! For about 3 weeks I kept writing it on my daily task and kept postponing it to the next day. I started telling people that I was going to do it in the hope that making it a public declaration would make me stick to it. That moved me closer (I looked up the phone number!) but I still didn’t call. It wasn’t until I re-read some of my notes and shared them with someone else that I realised this was what I needed to hear. The notes said…
Boom. I needed to hear that. This was really important to me and I wasn’t going to let resistance stop me. I made a commitment to myself that no matter what, I was going to make the call the next morning. The next morning came, and I made the call.
I was and fumbled my way through the conversation. There are many ways I could have handled it better. I came off the call and sighed. I felt exhausted. I had a lot of emotions to process. Being courageous isn’t easy; I’d had to be vulnerable and brave. I struggled for the rest of that day to focus on anything else other than analysing the conversation and how I felt about it.
Mostly though, I felt proud. I’d been courageous. I had faced the resistance. I had opened up a potential opportunity and gained valuable experience that I’m sure will support me in future situations. I’m looking forward to being more courageous in future.
What about you?
Where do you feel resistance holding you back?
If you knew you could not fail, what would you do?
What steps could you take to move you towards what you desire?
I’d love to encourage you to take one step in the next week to explore whatever it is you’re holding yourself back from. Keep an open mind and learn from the experience. Celebrate your progress. Most of all, be kind to yourself during the journey.
If this resonates with you and you’d like to discuss it further, please get in touch. I have some coaching availability starting in the next few weeks and would love to support you with your journey.
This article is taken from my monthly newsletter. If you’d like to receive future newsletters, please sign up to my mailing list.
Subscribe to my newsletter
Enter your details below to get regular self-coaching tips, advice and a summary of my latest blog posts sent straight to your inbox.