If only it was easy

I had been preoccupied with a »Live Your Own Life Masterclass« I’d been running. Making sure I got all the content ready, up and running at the right time. Posted tips in the accompanying Facebook group. And other things too. But it was also a convenient excuse!

A convenient excuse to not do something the thought of which alone had my inner voice (I call her I-V for short) go into overdrive.

I hope you, after reading this article, will conclude that you enjoyed and took something away from it. I f you did, I would appreciate you getting others involved in the conversation by sharing it with your friends/network. Thank you!

Some time ago I decided to no longer just focus my coaching attention on private clients alone but also start moving towards coaching for organisations. It is something I had been thinking about on and of for some time but for a long time wasn’t sure about doing.

Now that I was actually moving in that direction I-V immediately and loudly piped up about how this was a really bad idea.

How I would have to compromise in areas of my life I had promised myself never to do that again.

How nobody was waiting for a coach who doesn’t fit the corporate or organisational picture (what is that anyways?!) and who lives and works in Austria to boot!

How reaching out to people in my network to talk with about my plans for a coaching program was a silly idea. (Actually, language stronger than that was used!)

More was being said that I won’t bother you with.

You’d think after 10+ years of increasingly daring to live my own life and in alignment with my own values, I-V would have less influence over me. That she’d been banished to the furthest corners of my mind.

Then I go and decide I need to do something way out of my comfort zone or – as in this case – has me returning to an environment I very consciously left when I moved close to the mountains. And out she comes; guns blazing!

When that happens it takes soul searching, reading, studying as well as help (and a kick in the b*tt) from my Mastermind sisters and coach to get I-V to quiet down.

Getting where I need to be

To get her to a point again where she’s still grumbling in the background, but no longer in the driver’s seat.

To get to a point where I can observe her, be aware of her and do the thing I want or need to do in spite of her.

To get to a point where I once again know I don’t just want my clients to dare greatly, to live their own lives. I want to be able to show them how it can be doneby doing it myself.

Not just when it’s easy, but especially when it is hard! When I’m stepping out of my comfort zone!

Killed my Inner Voice? Not quite 🙁

I wish I could tell you I killed off my I-V, but that wouldn’t be true!

She’s still there raising a ruckus as soon as I show signs of fear or uncertainty.

That’s when she’s out in a flash, trying to claw her way back to the driver’s seat and grasping at the wheel.

I know I-V will always be there. She’s part of me just like my kidneys, liver and heart.

There will be other times I’ll again decide to do something out of my comfort zone so I can grow. She’ll seize on them as opportunities to come out from behind the curtains run to centre stage.

But as I’m growing I’m also learning to act faster and catch her before she gets there. Not yet succeeding, but getting better at it.

Helpful resources

There are a couple of resources (apart from talking things through with others like a coach or mastermind group) I find really helpful when I-V comes out full force:

• The book ‘The Untethered Soul’ by Michael A. Singer is all about dealing with one’s Inner Voice.
• All books by Brené Brown (her latest being ‘Braving The Wilderness’) are of great help too

Use them to your advantage!

How do you deal with your Inner Voice?

As always….

Go dare greatly!

Photo credit: Alexandru Zdrobau (Unsplash)