“People aren’t getting enough out of their brainstorming sessions.”

“I should have given my 30 second introduction.”

“I should have allowed everyone to introduce themselves.”

“Why didn’t I do a centering exercise at the beginning?”

Basically, all of these thoughts were fear telling me I’m not good enough.  But, the truth is…the event was a smashing success!  In fact, I received so many emails afterwards telling me how empowering and awesome it was.  So I choose to focus on the success and make any necessary adjustments for the next one.

I saw him a few feet away from the gushing water.

“Oh! I wonder what happened?” I thought.

I kept running and realized that he was a city worker cleaning the gutters before the rainy season kicks in.  I wanted to say thank you to him for helping us create such a beautiful community, but my pace carried me through the puddles quickly and he was already behind me.

“Oh well.  Maybe next time.” I consoled myself knowing that I wouldn’t say it next time either.  It’s just too weird for some random runner to say something so personal to a stranger.  So I let it all go with my next exhale and got on with my run.

On the way home, I rounded the corner by the church and low and behold who do you think was now cleaning the gutters up ahead a block?! Yup, it was him.  The city worker had progressed down the street and I was once again approaching him.  But, this time I had plenty of time to figure out what I was going to say and say it.  Crap! Why did the “next time” have to be so close to the first time?

The voice of fear kicked in and said, “What kind of freak gives compliments to city workers? He doesn’t care what you think.  Just keep on running.  No one will ever know you thought about saying thanks and didn’t.”

Whew.  What was I going to do? Was I going to give in to fear and say nothing? Or was I going to risk looking like a freak?

One step in front of the next.

Heart pounding.

Out of breath.

Here he is.

“Thank you!” I said and smiled at him.

He looked up startled.

We made eye contact.

“For all that you do for our community,” I explained.

His expression softened into a smile, “You’re welcome.”

The surge of exhilaration I felt prompted me to jump over the next puddle!  I almost cleared it.  Instead I splashed right on by and ran the rest of the way home with a big ass smile.

–

This 100 Things I Fear challenge rocks it!  Feel free to join us at any time.

I realized this morning that I keep focusing on all the things I haven’t done or I’m not doing in my coaching practice.  There’s this underlying energy that I’m not good enough or doing enough.  And yet, I have more clients now than I’ve ever had before.

Why am I not celebrating?!

So this morning I decided that I am enough and it’s okay to stop believing that I’m not.

The first step really is choosing to be different.  There’s always going to be something else you could do, so it really does come down to making a choice to allowing yourself to be enough right now just as you are.  And truth be told, you really can accomplish more when you come from a loving place of acceptance.

What a great way to begin my weekend!  Now I give myself permission to go see a movie with the Hubs this morning – he needs to take some vacation days this month and my favorite theater is selling $6 tickets for all am shows on Fridays.  What a great way to celebrate!

Now what can you do to celebrate all that you’ve already accomplished?

…negative self talk is a natural part of being human.

What?! Well then how are you supposed to get over it? For starters, you don’t have to get over it all.  The first step is to simply notice it.

Think about it.  If you don’t know you are speaking to yourself like crap, then how the heck are you going to change it?

And when I say “simply notice” I don’t mean judge yourself for your self talk.  Oh and by the way everyone who is humand and alive speaks to him/herself.  It’s not just for the crazies.

The key here is that successful people aren’t wasting time beating themselves up.  Nope.  In fact, successful people spend time recognizing their efforts even when they fail.  Yes, that’s right successful people fail.  In fact, they probably fail more than most because they are putting themselves out there more.

So I encourage you to set an intention to notice how you speak to yourself.  And watch what happens when you simply notice!

Any of this sound familiar?

Well, as a life coach it is my job to help people make their desired changes and achieve their goals.  And guess what? If you are beating up on yourself, then you are keeping yourself stuck.

Seriously.

If you want to move forward in your life, then begin by accepting yourself exactly how you are right now.  As soon as you let go of the need to change, you begin to change.

Sounds crazy right?! That’s why so many people stay the same!

Play with this idea for awhile and let me know how it works out for you.