Are you ready to break the cycle of The Nothing?
Fact: It's scary to tell the truth.
It's frightening to step out in to the open and say, "HEY WORLD! Guess what? I'm here and I've got shit to say that not everyone's going to agree with."
It's scary to know this and be ok with it and to go out in the open with it anyway.
Because, sometimes, our messages strike a cord with others and it's not the cord we were hoping for.
We get negative feedback or we hear crickets chirping and our immediate reaction is to turn inward, rescind and confirm for ourselves that stepping out in to the open with our truth created exactly what we expected it to.
Rejection. Pain. Shame.
So what happens next?
Fear enters stage left, comforts our little bruised egos and tells us in its patronizing, baby-voice, that it's ok, we were right in the first place...playing small and keeping our hands in our laps IS the way to protect us from ever experiencing that level of pain again.
And we settle in with our mediocrity while the fire burns silently in our chest. Instead of fanning the flames, we stifle it and pray that it will burn out. We convince ourselves that the answers, our deepest knowing, is actually a lie we've been telling ourselves just so we can feel some level of importance in this world.
And we do nothing.
Because The Nothing Space is fear's only way to continue its existence (like in The NeverEnding Story).
We march on like good soldiers to the jobs we hate, in the relationships we feel empty in and we refuse to value ourselves in the world in which we live.
Well...I'm here with your wake up call, sister...The Nothing is going to eat you alive if you allow it to.
Playing small isn't hurting anyone but you.
Stifling your truth so others won't feel intimidated or uncomfortable is silently breaking you.
Your fear is only a mechanism of the things you've been taught to believe are true by others who were too afraid to fan their own passionate flame.
It's time to break the cycle.
If you can't do it for yourself, then look at the other people in your life. Your children, your nieces and nephews, your grandkids, your best friend's daughter...
Start there.
YOU have a legacy to leave here. You have a tribe to lead. A movement to create.
No one else can tell this story and until you find the courage inside to write it, speak it and share it with the world...the Nothing wins.
It's time to stop playing small.