Hi ,
Weāve all heard that phrase āget out of your comfort zoneā.
You probably also know about the benefits of pushing through discomfort.
Yāknow. Cliches like:
- āWhat doesnāt kill you makes you strongerā.
- āPushing past discomfort makes you growā.
- āIf youāre not uncomfortable, youāre not learningā.
Buuuuuuut. Getting out of your comfort zone is HARD even if itās something youāve dreamed of and worked hard on.
What does that reality look like?
Hereās what happened with me.
I got invited to run a breath and yoga nidra workshop at a Fortune 500 top tech companyās internal womenās summit. This has been a dream of mine, itās been on the vision board so when the opportunity came I jumped at the chance and said āYESā.
š„ Never mind this is happening at the same time we got keys to the new apartment which is undergoing a total new build from the ground up - tearing down and building new stairs, walls, floors, kitchen, etc.
š° Or that at the same time Iām in the middle of listing my studio flat for sale - dealing with agents, viewings, styling and prepping the place for viewings, etc.
š„µ Or that I forgot I agreed to substitute-teach a class at the yoga studio that weekend. Argh.
Soā¦ what did I do?
- Procrastinate on prepping that big workshop (writing this email is part of that procrastination)
- Allow my fear of failure to paralyse all action (leading to more procrastination)
- Feel like an imposter as Iām not doing as I teach, so second-guess and question all of my life choices.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
Discomfort is messy and emotional. But thatās OK.
When I was finally ready to face the messy and emotional - hereās how I worked through all of those uncomfortable feelings (itās also what 20+ years of being a producer has taught me):
- Remind myself that even if I donāt know how it all ends, I trust in myself that Iāll figure it out.
- One baby step at a time. Whatās the next first step I can take to move things forward, even if by a tiny bit? (sketch out the 3-part flow of the workshop)
- What can I say ānoā to, to free up more time? (thankful a yoga teacher friend agreed to fill in for the class I was going to teach).
- Get out of my own way. Itās not about me - itās about how I can help someone else (which was the whole point of teaching this workshop to the Fortune 500 tech companyās women leaders in the first place!)
So here I am this weekend, still chipping away at prepping this workshop (todayās baby step is rehearsing it again, slowly fine-tuning it).
Turning my nervous anxiety into excitement. I got this.
The struggle is real. āļø
But itās exactly this place of lived experience Iām sharing from - how we use these ancient teachings and apply them in a challenging, fast-paced life. If nothing else - how to just get a moment of respite in the face of everything life keeps throwing at you.
Hopefully some of it resonates.
And hopefully some of what Iām going through helps you with your version of what youāre going through too.
Got a story to share? Hit reply and let me know - would love to learn whatās been helping you get a moment of respite in the face of āSH*T IS GOING DOWN!ā š
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