Beware the Voices in your Head
I sat with a friend this week as she shared with me her emotions after 60-days in lockdown as her husband and son both returned to week over the last few days. After many, many (sometimes long) weeks of co-existing, and working through all that that brought with it, her new norm was to adjust to her family leaving.
It brought up a number of emotions. Fear being the most prominent one — fear for their safety; fear for the potential of bringing home the virus; fear of being the only one of the team left behind.
Ahhhh…. there is it…..now we’re knocking on vulnerability’s door.
My friend is a strong, motivated woman. She has accompanied many things in her life and is fiercely independent. An advocate for those she loves and a believer in all things great. When the pandemic first hit, she approached it with the mindset of “We will get through this” which she spread to others though regular messages of strength, hope and courage. She continued this throughout the lock down and still, to this day, tries to provide comfort to others.
So when these emotions of fear and abandonment started to surface for her, she had a difficult time identifying what was happening within her. It took her days of reflection to finally realize that she was feeling “left behind”… the forgotten one.
It is amazing the stories that we tell ourselves. In this case, my friend was telling herself that she was being left behind, that the rest of the world was out and moving while she was still stuck in the house. The reality, though, is that nothing for her had changed throughout the entire lockdown. Read that again: nothing had changed. She is an entrepreneur who works out of her home except to attend networking events, business meetings and luncheons. As with many, these things have been happening via Zoom and teleconferencing for the last 10-weeks. Nothing had changed except for her story telling. And that made all the difference.
Be aware of the thoughts that you have with yourself. The small blurbs on commentary that float throughout your words, weaving themselves into your consciousness. With absolutely no effort, these thin stories build themselves to be substantial and often times, there is no truth to them whatsoever. How are your thoughts supporting your greater vision for yourself these days? What would happen if your thoughts became even slightly more encouraging, kind, or compassionate? Where would you see the shift within your world?
