Here’s One Way Life Gets Better

The upcoming October 17 Clarity Retreat (registration is now live!) is about expanding beyond our limits.

This is one of my favorite topics because it's something that I've had a lot of experience with over the years.

I came out of childhood closed off, insecure, scared, and highly acclimatized to not taking up much space. It was very uncomfortable.

At some point in college it occurred to me that I would have to go through my fears and endure the discomfort of new behaviors to expand my life.

I really took to it.

I've never been one to take a lot of physical risks, but I have taken plenty of social and psychological risks.

I went from sitting quietly to raising my hand more in class to speaking on stages to doing stand-up.

I went from feeling scared to put myself out there to regularly sharing about my business.

I went from feeling nervous to talk to people to enjoying chatting with friends and acquaintances as part of my daily life.

I went from sharing my experiences in a journal to sharing them openly with safe people in my life.

I went from not having dated much to tackling a yearlong, fascinating dating learning curve.

From all of these experiences I've seen that life gets better when I'm willing to feel the fear and do it anyway. (Pro tip - Fear goes away when you go through it. It sticks around when you wait for it to go away before you act.)

I've learned if I just show up over time I get better at most things. So I give myself the opportunity to try, fail, learn, and try again without much charge around it.

I now know that mistakes, failure, and rejection are actually all highly survivable. With the right mindset they can be informative and helpful.

And by being willing to show up through these difficulties I get opportunities to connect with some cool things that wouldn't have happened if I'd just been sitting on the bench.

There's also an interesting side benefit of trying to do new or hard or scary things. We get stronger and more acclimated to the things that were initially hard. It usually gets way easier. The first time through something is the hardest because it's new. And then we adapt and get better at it.

There's a full and vibrant world out there to plug into. And there are gifts inside of you that are worth sharing too.

Are there any places where you're holding yourself back from participating? Are there things that you want that are feeling out of reach or too scary?

If you're in the DC area, I'd love to see you for a daylong, playful exploration of this topic at our next Clarity Retreat (formerly called Friday Field Trip). You'll come away with inspiration, insight, and momentum towards your goals!

And here's the Clarity Retreat sign-up page. The 10% early bird discount is running through Sept 28th. ​​​​​​​This is a great opportunity to take some time out of your day-to-day life, connect, and explore what's possible for you and your life in supportive company.