The Stories (Lies) We Tell

When I was a little girl, I was good at a lot of things.

I got good grades in all my classes, pleased my teachers, and listened to my parents. I learned that I was smart, creative, kind.

Good.

I was good at everything I did. (I thought.)

But then I started to get scared about all the things I hadn’t done.

I wanted to play soccer, but what if I wasn’t good at it?

Believing that I was good at everything I did worked for me, as long as I was doing things I’d already done.

But there was a whole world of things out there I just wasn’t sure I could do.

If I was going to be good at everything, I couldn’t go out there trying things where failure was an option, could I?

That would be dangerous.

So I stayed in the comfort zone of what I was “good” at for a long time. Until I learned how to trick myself into doing things I wasn’t sure about. (That’s a story for another day.)

I’m thinking about this because…

We all have these stories about who we are and what we’re good at.

We fight SO HARD to make those stories true because at least we know who we are. It’s safe.

What stories about yourself are keeping you from doing what you really want?

If you couldn’t tell those stories anymore…

What would you do?

What wouldn’t you do?