When Life knocks you off balance, how do you straighten yourself up? How do you rise to meet the challenge? Or do you? Can you move out of your comfort zone? Are you able to work through being uncomfortable or do you give up before the shift? What is your usual response?
I feel really uncomfortable right now, and very sad. I have taken a big hit in my pride and self-esteem. Right now, I’m not sure what to do with all my emotions welling up in my body, so I decided to share my experience which has happened to everyone at one time or another, but it is in how you handle the experience in the end that determines your result.
I made a very fixable error today that could have been easily have been corrected and simply explained away to the client as a newbie mistake, and in most situations would have. In this situation due to the circumstances I’m dealing with, it is now bigger than it needed to be. It actually could have been a good learning experience for me, but instead I just feel deflated and beaten up by the way the mistake was handled and addressed. The result is I have had to take a step back in the progress I was making, and my Ego has taken a big hit. I am experiencing that feeling where your eyes well up just thinking about the injustice of it all.
On the flip side, I have the rational part of me that says its not that big of a deal, you still have all your needs being met, you are grateful for the opportunity to learn something new, it could turn out to be a great benefit to me in the long run, and everything in my life is status quo but in actuality it is not status quo. I’m embarrassed and now maybe these people think less of me, or that they don’t think I’m as smart or as talented as I was originally to them. Or maybe they realized they rushed me into a situation I wasn’t prepared for and have taken a step back.
I understand now why others might have complained in similar situations, and just given up. They quit, and they left. It’s easy to do that. I was tempted myself. However I stopped myself from that old knee jerk reaction because what I realized is that I can use these uncomfortable feelings and this sadness to my advantage. I can take it as a learning experience, regroup, use it as fuel and use this challenge to:
1) Not make that mistake again. I can use this experience toward not making similar mistakes in my business.
2) Know that the many situations in life seem unfair because we create them on higher level so we can learn. Growing pains can be very painful.
3) Life is not always “normal” or “fair,” and so I have to expect the that as long as I’m there it will continue to be this way, so I better get some thicker skin.
4) It is temporary.
5) No one is dying including me. That’s when life really gets challenging to keep going.
6) Lastly, it is creative fuel to increase my passion, and drive to create my entrepreneurial dreams along with the desire to help others, to live my purpose and to stop playing in a playpen where I don’t belong any longer.
The truth is on a higher level, as uncomfortable as I am feeling right now, this situation and the people involved on a Spiritual level have a contract with me, which is to teach me that it’s time to not make careless mistakes, to be better than then average, to put out good work, to excel, to work hard, to improve and perfect my speaking and presentation skills so I can speak to large audiences in the near future, to sharpen my mental acuity, and to grow in my career. They have taught me already to have thicker skin and to be your own judge of your self-worth and value. They don’t give compliments. Its just part of what is expected to do perfect work. I need to expect that of myself. I’m allowed to make mistakes, that is part of learning, but I must own them and accept the consequences.
I will allow myself room to grow and take those growing pains as a good sign that I’m stretching myself. I’m out of my comfort zone. I’m going where others are afraid to go to my zone of genius where I get to create my future. I’m brave. Will you join me and step out of your comfort zone? Will you be brave? Will you stretch your wings and fly with me?
I would love to hear your thoughts on moving beyond your comfort zone and stepping up to new life challenges.
Love,
Carolyn
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