Imagine the boxes you’ve locked yourself into. The ways in which you define who you are and what you can / cannot do. Think about each border you’ve drawn between who you are and who “they” are, the stories you tell yourself about what’s not possible for you.
We live our lives locked away into different boxes of self-definition. Sometimes our boxes overlap with our big dreams for the future, but more often then not they lie in a far away corner – not even close enough to touch if you stretch out as far as you can possibly reach.
Where did these boxes come from? These confines of who we are and who we aren’t. When did we allow ourselves to become so definitely defined by half-truths that perhaps pertain to an earlier version of who we once were or, (gasp!), who our parents once were.
Our truth lies outside of the box. What we are capable of can only be truly tested and understood on the outer edge of our vision. Our imagination can only fly as free as the openings in our view of the world will allow.
I’ve seen the boxes that I’ve put myself into and the boxes that my clients have created for their own lives. In that box they are safe. They know who they are. There is certainty. There is comfort. And there is also a quiet collapse seeping into their very existence.
For it is not a life full of certainty and definiteness that we truly crave, but one that allows us to feel alive.
ALIVE is outside of the box. Alive is without definition. Alive is fear and courage all mixed up into one big ball of who we are.
For we are meant to live our lives courageously – trying and testing and failing and trying again.
That can’t happen in a box. That can only happen on the edge of our imagination.
When you feel confined, restricted, and unfulfilled, you must check the boxes you’ve locked yourself into. What definitions have you created and stuffed yourself neatly into? What borders delineate who you “most definitely are” from who you “most definitely are not”?
Find your edges. Find your definitions. Find the source of your paralyzing comfort and release yourself from its bounds.
You are meant to be set free to explore the pains as well as the joys of life – for the pure bliss of experiencing an even richer existence.
Break yourself free.
Find your truest self.
Lean into that life.
Amanda Parker is the Founder of The Courage Factory and a catalyst for human transformation through her coaching and leadership work with leaders & entrepreneurs.
Whenever you’re ready, I can help you activate your courage to truly transform the way you lead your business and life.
- Join Alchemy this March and access your inner wisdom and transform how you lead your business and life. I promise to challenge and provoke your thinking. And you’ll be surrounded with a really smart community of extraordinary leaders and entrepreneurs.
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