What makes you uncomfortable? Is it talking to people, paperwork, accounting, taxes, calling people, traveling?
When something makes you uncomfortable, do you put your hands up and wave it off or make a gesture to “put it over there” in some imaginary place? Is your magic fairy going to take care of it for you?
If you face these “things” head-on, and eat that frog first (see my article on Creativity Corner: Is Your Pond Well Stocked), bravo to you! Read no further, but tell us how it makes you feel to have that empowerment at the bottom of this post 😉
If you are like most of us, you avoid things that make you uncomfortable. You probably have encountered missed deadlines, fines, lost confidence, missed opportunities and undesireable consequences. What an unfortunate circumstance!
Try this exercise. List the feelings you associate with the thing or things that make you uncomfortable. Can you identify how the thing you avoid, make you feel? Do you feel scared, sad, threatened, irritated, angry, depressed, hopeless? Take a quick note of your body. Is it tense?
After identifying your feelings of discomfort, write down how you’d feel if you accomplished this thing that made you uncomfortable. Would you be proud, elated, joyful, empowered, happy, ecstatic? Take notice of how your body felt when you thought about how you’d feel. Which do you prefer? How do you want to live your life?
Instead of tying up your energy in avoidance, how about practicing empowerment? Living life positively!
Try 5 minutes a day. Whether that’s doing your books, calling customers, talking to people, etc. Think of it like a muscle. Muscles that we don’t use are weak. If you can barely do a sit up that’s just a starting point. What if today you did just 5 sit ups. Just think, eventually you’ll be able to do 10, 15, 20, etc. It then becomes a habit and you may even love doing those sit ups! Try filing one piece of paper, filling out one line of the tax form, call one person, look at one stranger in the eyes and say hello, etc. YOU can do it!
I’m looking forward to hearing about things that make you feel uncomfortable and if there is something you think you’d like to try to make into a successful task or experience. I’m here for you to cheer you on. Together we can have success in areas that make us uncomfortable!
I am really uncomfortable doing my accounting… paperwork. ie, taxes. I have been tackling it by working on it for one hour / day, in the morning with my coffee. At the end of that hour, I see the dent of missing paper on my desk, and I smile, if even for a second. When I turn around another mountain is looming over me to mow down. Once I can see the top of my desk, the pile on the floor is next. Dead line for this massive task is mid March. I will get it done. Thank you Tonya for your words of encouragement.