Hello Dear One,
How are you doing out there? Pause. Put a hand on your heart. Think about it.
If you’re like me old patterns might be surfacing. Perhaps your self-compassion has slipped, or you’re believing negative things. Perhaps you’re being hard on yourself again. I’ll tell you what I tell myself: it’s impossible to feel good all the time, or be a perfect human being.
One of my old patterns is keeping things to myself. Recently, I felt I couldn’t share something because I didn’t want to ‘take away’ from a happy occasion (inverted commas signalling a story I’ve told myself). It’s a familiar feeling: for decades my default response was to stuff everything challenging back inside. Lonely, right?
Now, I do almost the opposite.
The first place I go is my notebook. I let myself free write, then catch the dishonest bits, the limiting narratives, the unfair judgements. I negotiate with the anxious and fearful part of myself and pull closer to equilibrium. When I feel ready, I speak to people close to me, or a professional like my counsellor. It’s not that I’m looking to another person to ‘fix’ a situation, rather that I truly value another person’s perspective. We never have to do it all alone.
I find it easy to express myself in certain areas of my life – and in certain environments – less so in others. I worry, at times, how I’ll come across, or believe I’m not clever/qualified/interesting enough to be part of a conversation. We all carry an idea of who we’d like to be and it’s easy to feel we might be letting ourselves down. I’d love to let go of that, but it’s a process.
I look at it like this: honest self-expression is the only path that works. I might veer off at times, hide in the hedge or need a little sit down to gather my courage but I will always move forward. Your feelings are your feelings, valid because they exist. I hope you find a means of expression that feels right for you, whatever form it takes.
Thanks for being here and being you.
All love,
Jo
WORKSHOPS
There are two spots left in my 2nd December workshop, ninety minutes of nourishing writing to ground, release and connect back to what matters. If you’d like to join grab a spot here.
More on new offerings coming soon!
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