Ignore the people who still stop you from living your own life now

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve walked into an old and very familiar trap. There were lots of things I needed to do, all with a deadline and not enough time to do them in. I was completely stressed out.

Somehow I had convinced myself I had to stick to those deadlines. Something in the far recesses of my subconscious mind had been very convincing. I couldn’t possibly not be ready when they came to pass.

So there I was, struggling hard to finish everything on time and slowly realising I would not be making it.

This is when I came to recognise two things:

1. Somehow I had taken on too many things to do with too little time to do them in. (Duh!)
2. The person who was telling me I had to stick to the deadlines was me

Recognising that second thing was a HUGE eye-opener!!

If I’m the one telling myself to do things one way, I can tell myself there is another way too.

Take some of the things I didn’t want or need to be doing off my plate. And in doing so creating enough room for the things I wanted to do!

It served as a strong reminder of the way the stories we tell ourselves influence our behaviour! Something I usually am very aware of but obviously sometimes still run into!

In this particular case I told myself I couldn’t quit what I was doing, because of what others might think.

What if they thought I was a quitter? What if they thought I was weak? What if they thought all I did was talk big but not follow through? What if …. [fill in the blank]?

Related Post: 3 Things to Conquer Fear and Live Your Own Life

Who were these people spending so much time thinking about me? Whose judgement was I so worried about?

Upon reflection I could think of only three: me, myself and I.

Nobody else even has the time!

The point of all this?

It was the same three people who kept me from changing the way I was living my life. I didn’t even think to figure out what that life would look like. I had already judged myself to be crazy, not worthy, a quitter and much more.

My fear created by the story I was telling myself was enough to keep me stuck in an unhappy place.

I had to hit rock bottom before I could finally take steps to change my story and through that my life.

Sure, there are other people whose opinion mattered and still matter to me. Mostly though, they are very supportive of me!

In the end starting to truly live my own life was easy! I just had to change the story I was telling myself and then start acting accordingly!

This brings me to an important question!

What is the story you tell yourself that keeps you from living the life you truly want for yourself?!

As always …

Go dare greatly! #LiveYourOwnLife

Photo credit: Austin Smith (Unsplash)