The Lonely Road...on facing the beast
Not everyone's gonna love you.
Life can feel downright empty sometimes, even when you know in your heart of hearts that it's full and brimming and spilling over all around you.
It has taken me so long to figure this out and I can forget it all at once and return to this alone space in a split second.
I have been putting myself out there in new and different and scary ways lately. I am pushing myself outside my comfort zone each day and asking people to hear and see me.
And you know what? It feels really shitty most of the time.
I'm not going to pretend that posting something with your giant face and link and a "please sign-up for this thing bc I feel really passionate about" and then seeing a big ol' goose egg in the subscribe box doesn't feel shitty.
It feels shitty and it feeds the Beast.
What's the beast, you say? The beast is that voice in your head that says, "See...I told you." It's the voice saying, "Nobody cares and nobody believes you. You're trying too hard."
I used to let the beast win.
I used to let the beast convince me to go eat a pint of ice cream or go workout excessively to bury the pain and pretend it didn't matter to me. I let the beast keep me in a job that didn't fuel my soul for a little too long.
In an interview this weekend with Molly Harris on her program Habitually Speaking, I told her that I have learned to become a masochist and it's one of the most powerful practices I have activated on my self-improvement journey. Physically forcing myself to do things that are uncomfortable has served as an incredible tool to get over the proverbial hump. To prove to myself that doing the things that scare me, facing the beast and doing it anyway has served as the most direct path to freedom possible.
In my Live Your Freedom Tour interview with CNN contributor Mel Robbins, we talked about self-doubt. She said, "Self-doubt exists for everyone. The people who get what they want DON'T STOP TAKING ACTION."
And she's 100% right.
You can't stop taking action. Even when you're scared. Or when someone says you suck. Or when you say you suck. You have to keep going.
You have to listen to that inner truth and follow the path it leads you down.
I believe in you.
I believe in me.
And I believe in our silly, frivolous, amazing, powerful, brilliant, life-altering ideas. Even the ones that are a whisper from deep down within.
There is a place in this world for our ideas.
So instead of hiding it or thinking it and letting it pass...put it out there.
Share it. Feel the sting. Feel the jolt of excitement when it resonates with another soul.
