Jessica and I recently wrote an article, ‘Trusting Your Gut As You Send Your Kids Back To School’, for the August 2020 issue of Montana Parent Magazine. I was impacted by this article immediately.
While writing it, I was struggling personally with some big, uncomfortable feelings, a lot of self-judgement & just plain worry. Any one else have some moments like that this year??
Feeling this way was overwhelming. It was unbearable & yet I was struggling to release it.
Hello there shame.
I feel since becoming a yoga teacher & having a deeper practice, that when I stumble – which we all do – & things go negative, some times I fall harder then I used to. I get in a space of judgement instead of observation. Feeling like “I should know better than this, I should have been more prepared & aware.”
This judgment I place on myself is of course not helpful!
So while, we wrote this article, I was able to step-back, focus on something else for a moment. Then I could follow the wisdom that was in the 4 simple steps we put together in the article to help parents this fall:
- TUNE IN, ACKNOWLEDGE & VERBALIZE your feelings, emotions and the situation at hand
- SET YOUR [BACK TO SCHOOL] [GETTING THROUGH 2020] MINDSET
- STEP INTO THE ROLE OF THE LEADER aka “I feel confident, so you can too”
- RE-EVALUATE & CHECK BACK-IN – this is an evolving process!
Once I was able to acknowledge & verbalize (oh, the horror) my feelings, the enormity of the feelings dissolved.
This allowed me to determine what I wanted, without having it all figured out. Then I could decided how I wanted to feel, which was quite opposite of how I was feeling.
Knowing what I wanted again, instead of focusing on what I had lost or the fear I had about what was to come, I got creative about my options & my ATTITUDE.
They say “Attitude Is Everything”, right?
I felt transformed into a whole different place, with my new attitude & outlook.
When I get judgmental, think of myself as bad, lose compassion for myself/the situation, focus on mistakes instead of grow from them or forget to listen to my gut, IT DOESN’T FEEL LIKE I CAN TRUST MYSELF.
But following these steps instead, I remembered I was good enough. I found compassion and understanding for what I was feeling and was able to find trust in myself.
I’m happy to report, after several weeks of checking in & saying yes to the things that align with I want, I still feel relaxed about the path I’m on. I can follow my inner voice with confidence.
If you need some pointers on how to stir up your feelings so you can release them, read our full article here.
Keep in mind, that trusting yourself is a practice in and of itself. I get better & better the more time I take to tune-in, verbalize & re-evaluate. Plus having a daily self-practice where I stand, sit or lay quietly & explore my inner world with curiosity & honesty has also helped me on my path to Trusting Myself in 2020.
<3 Becca