To begin: get over yourself

I’m asking you to get over yourself, but the bad news is that I can’t tell you exactly how to do it. Before you turn on me and get all up in arms in the belief that I’d endeavor to lead you blindly to a destination unknown to me, let me rephrase: The bad news is that I can’t tell you exactly what measures your getting over yourself will entail, because it will be individual to you. The good news is that because it is individual to you, you already have your own answers. Yes you do. You just may not know them yet. And that’s why I’m here! To help show you where to begin your search by sharing my own.

If I were to listen to the Dark Shadow Voice (dsv) in my head tell it- I’m a fuck-up. Oh yeah. Dsv will convince me I’m not smart enough, pretty enough, fast enough, strong enough, rich enough, worldly enough… need I go on?  to accomplish anything that I endeavor to do. And oh yeah- my ideas are crazy and I’m too OLD to boot. Which is funny, because many years ago that same dsv would remind me I was too YOUNG, both to be taken seriously or have attained enough wisdom to actually be able to put some ass behind what I was promoting. Contrary to being a little voice in my head, it was the giant dragon that prevented me from fully exploring and developing my gifts. But I couldn’t see the dragon for what it actually was until it showed its face by blinding others to their gifts- gifts that were so obvious to me. Through others, I could see the dsv clearly for what it actually was: a liar.

It doesn’t matter what you call your dsv, but if we’re going to beat it at its own game, it is important that you acknowledge it so that you are able to see it for what it actually is and stop it in its tracks. I want to point out that this is not a once and done, but rather, something you will be working on daily- some days more than others. *Perhaps you’ve noted by now that there is nothing about fitness that is a once and done and that most definitely includes soul work. 🙂 That dsv is going to be your life partner, so it’s essential to your empowerment that you let it know you are the one running the show- both in your head and out of it. We’re going to strip the dsv of its power by nipping any thought it attempts to feed us in its effort to keep us paralyzed. I’ve learned to imagine a giant pair of scissors in my head snipping its words and actually think, “SNIP-get over yourself, Lisa” whenever the dsv starts its rumblings, because it has been laid on my heart that I do not have the luxury of indulging in the type of fixation on self that will prohibit me from taking action. So our conversations sound something like this:

Do you really think you have what it takes to pass that course? (SNIP)  get over yourself, Lisa!                     

Are you telling me that you think people are going to want to read/watch/listen to that? (SNIP) get over yourself, Lisa!

Don’t you think you should wait to do that until it could be more perfect? (SNIP) get over yourself, Lisa!

Do you actually think they’d hire you for this job? (SNIP) get over yourself, Lisa!

You do realize you’ll never be ________________________, (fill in the blank) enough, right? (SNIP) get over yourself, Lisa!

SNIP! Get over yourself! You get over yourself by realizing it’s not about YOU! It’s not about your looks, finances, intelligence, supposed “worthiness”, etc… The world may make it appear as though it’s about those characteristics, but you are more than a character or an identity walking around in a skin suit. Your mission is something bigger than you and your gifts were given to you with that mission in mind. You don’t even have to understand exactly what that mission is! You only need do as you are led, one step at a time. In my own journey, I have found that the louder and more convincing the dsv becomes in trying to slow my steps, the more important those very steps are to my growth. In other words, if it seems especially impossible and improbable and dsv is working double time to convince me that I don’t have what it takes, that’s the time when it’s most imperative that I leap in faith. That’s when the biggest breakthroughs occur.

Getting over yourself means giving yourself complete, uninhibited permission to be 100% you and encouraging others to do the same. I’m not saying it won’t take work, but really, what are we actually afraid of anyway? Making asses out of ourselves? I’ve come to realize that I’d rather make an ass out of myself while doing something than sitting idly by becoming invisible while I waited to become perfect enough to start living. We’re here and we’re enough. AS IS.