Lately, I’ve been working through some more internal “stuff.” The question that has been popping up is, “Who am I to _______?” This question is really a question of worthiness.
Who Am I?
This has been incredibly frustrating for me, because I thought I had worked through my worthiness issues already when we wrote our book. We published the book, We’ve been selling it. I talk about being the author of a book, and I feel comfortable with this. My worthiness issues are solved, right? Wrong!
We are now coaching and creating workshops to directly help others take their next steps to increase their life’s impact. And suddenly, I’m wondering, “Who am I to be doing this?” Arrg!
Oh sure, intellectually, I know I have a unique perspective that will help people, and that there are people who are yearning to live a life of greater meaning and significance. But my “head” isn’t my problem – It’s my feelings of unworthiness that’s the problem.
I am learning several things about feelings of unworthiness:
- Everyone has worthiness issues, but if we don’t stretch ourselves, we may not bump into them.
- When we stretch ourselves to the next level, we might get to face worthiness issues all over again.
Who Are You?
These two facts about feelings of unworthiness are important. The first thing to recognize is that worthiness issues might be holding you back. Anytime you had the thought that you could take your life in a new direction and you didn’t, it’s likely you were either held back by fear or a feeling that you weren’t worthy, or both. Examples might be:
- You wanted to start a business but haven’t
- You wanted to go on a mission trip but haven’t
- You wanted to take that new job that was a bit of a stretch but didn’t
- You wanted to write a book but haven’t
- Or maybe even you wanted to get married but haven’t
The second thing to recognize, the thing I’ve been wrestling with lately, is that worthiness issues can come up at any step on the journey. We may think we’ve licked the worthiness problem, and suddenly we find ourself stuck in neutral. We’ve stalled, not progressing like we’d like.
Why You?
What I want to share with you right now is that when you stretch yourself, it’s always bigger than you are. That’s why it’s a stretch. If you’re not having self doubts, you’re probably not really stretching yourself, or you’re not normal.
Also, it’s not all about you. Other people need you to take that next step. There are people who are praying for you to show up in their life. Maybe they don’t know it’s you specifically, yet they are praying that you will step into their lives and touch them in some way. No one else will resonate with them or touch them the same way you will. They need you.
And yet other people are hiding out feeling unworthy and are afraid of the uncertainty. These people need you to take that next step too. They need to see you stretch yourself because it gives them permission and hope to do the same for themselves. When you take your next step, some people you never knew were there will come out of hiding and follow your lead.
So take that next step, even if it’s small. You don’t need a credential for it. There is no secret method, process, system, or recipe that is perfect. There is no right way that works to the exclusion of everything else. Things are being re-invented all the time. You have everything you need right now to take that next step.
If I’ve inspired you to take your next step, even if it’s small, I’d love to hear about it and cheer you on. This week, when you take a step and stretch yourself, tell us about it.
P.S. If you are ready to take the next step on your big dream and you’ve been putting it off, give us a call to see how we can support you [(916) 783-2622]. With our help, you can shave two to three years off of your journey.
