There may be some things in your life that you have always wanted to do but have not done yet for the following reason: it isn’t ‘you’. Or at least: it doesn’t feel like ‘you’. Maybe you’d love to learn how to tango, or maybe you’ve been thinking about switching up your shoe collection for some time now by buying new pairs that, in contrast to the ones you own now, are not merely sneakers.
What you need in order to do something that isn’t (yet) you? One big handful of courage. Because when something doesn’t feel like you (did I say YET already?!), you absolutely will feel a bit uncomfortable, weird, and insecure about it when you first start doing it.
When you’ve never done any dancing, chances are you don’t feel graceful or confident at all the first time you go to a tango class. And when you’ve always only worn sneakers, you might feel looked-at and not yourself when you start wearing something else.
Besides your own ideas of who you are, there’s also always other people with their ideas and opinions. And: with their comments. Because moooost likely, others will notice it too when you do something different. They have an image of you in their head, and simply put: not everything you do or say fits that image. This image is not necessarily bad, it’s just how we function. We always put people in a little bit of a box, even if we’re trying our best not to. The thing with these boxes is: they can change. And so can the box that you created for yourself. Your box can become bigger and bigger and bigger.
IF you just START doing that thing you’ve been dying to do.
The more often you do something, the more ‘you’ it will feel. That weird feeling you might have in the beginning, is not there to stay. You and others will get used to the new you. The key is to try and not judge yourself too much. And to try to not think too much about how others will respond. Others are always slower with seeing this new you anyway. While you are inside your head all day and all night and have had many daydreams about that dancing class, others are not ‘as far’. They need some time to adjust.
So do your thing. And keep doing it if it’s something you really want to do. Because sooner or later… that will be só you.
Love,
Lobke