Thoughts on healthy discomfort
and allowing space for all of you
Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.
- Steven Pressfield
Something I know to be true about myself, is that I thrive in the space between my fears and excitement. When my energy is pulled in multiple, challenging yet rewarding directions.
And while I live for the feeling of ease and expansion in my body, (hi Taurus moon) I also know that some of the best parts of me have come from a healthy dose of discomfort.
When I’m not coaching, walking my dogs, doing social media for small local businesses, taking makeup clients or working with antiques; I sit on the board of our local Business Association and I’m the incoming president for my Rotary Club and we help create things like this: Millbrook Community Fridge.
It scares me to want to do so many different things and do them each with beauty, excellence, integrity and intention because it’s the path I truly want most. And possibly the path I’ve had no blueprint for outside of my own dreams and desires. To move about each day effortlessly but with effort, juggling several plates, moving fast and slow at the same time. That flux between opposites is as I’m discovering, very much my sweet spot. While consistent and routine simply are not. And that can be a terrifying thing when so much out there says you need both to be “successful.”
My version of consistency waxes and wanes as often as the moon.
I’m learning to embrace the fact that the path I’m creating is authentically me yet also not my comfort zone. But in order to live authentically, from the inside out, we first have to understand the ways in which we’ve been living from the outside-in. Which let’s be honest, is uncomfortable. So when I say that I thrive in that in between space, of healthy discomfort, it’s because I’ve found out enough times what waits on the other side. A more me - me.
The outside world would have me believe that my instincts and ability to jump from idea to idea, to create and do many different things quickly and with ease, made me a “jack of all trades - master of none.” Which somehow seemed like something to be ashamed of. Yet the practice of not running away from those feelings; of taking tiny steps until eventually you’re running towards them, creates more and more space for curiosity and courage.
When your fears and feelings of discomfort hold you in one place for too long, it takes being curious to ask “what other options do I have here?” and a little courageous to experiment until you find the ones that feel true.
Each time I hit send on a newsletter, it’s a tiny step out of my learned comfort zone - of not sharing my thoughts for fear of being “all over the place” or of doing too much. It’s an even bigger step toward my thriving zone, where I show myself just how much I can and get to do in this one precious life.
It doesn’t have to always make sense or paint the perfect picture, yet my multitude of avenues for self-expression and work do have common threads. One of which is space. I practice holding space for all of me with compassion and acceptance and in turn I get better at creating a safe space for others to do the same.
The Immersive Coaching Container is my signature coaching program with twelve sessions and the space to make big moves at your pace and in the most authentically aligned way for you.
If you’ve never had a coaching experience, I encourage you to book a discovery call with me or any other coach out there that you resonate with. Whether you decide to work together or leave it at one call, there is power in expressing your - self, dreams, fears or challenges to someone whose sole focus is to listen without judgement so they can reflect back to you the answers you already possess.
Beautifully written xoxo