The thing that most often keeps you from being fully yourself is … you.
Specifically, your fear of the wholeness and fullness of you.
But, you say, “I have been seeking myself and working to heal myself for a long time. If it weren’t for my family, my job, my responsibilities, my commitments, then I would be able to have the time, energy, or resources to pursue my own journey.”
And we would say to you, precisely. It is these things that are in your way. But not in the way you think of them.
If you were to take that class that teaches something your family or friends don’t understand, you might need to work through these relationships. You might need to learn how to explain why this is important to you. You might need to be ok with being misunderstood. You might need to spend less time with people who purposely try to keep you in an old box.
If you were to set boundaries on your schedule to allow you time rest, heal, create, or integrate, you might need to work on the roots of your people pleasing. You might need to learn how to address the feelings that come up in you when you say ‘no’ - feelings of guilt, shame, resentment.
There could be many more examples but, in each of them, these choices would create inconvenience in your life because they would create changes, not just in your life, but also in the lives of those around you.
Notice the word inconvenience. There are times when your choices need to blow up your world for you to escape or start anew. But those are the exception and you tend to recognize their urgency or life-threatening space. Most times, your choices ask inconvenient questions. They create inconvenient situations.
How will others respond? You cannot predict or control that.
You can only guide your own life.
~ Chardon
[image: Emerging. Watery acrylic on paper. March 27, 2020]
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