Since the start of this year, and for 8 months following that, I have been battling with feeling depressed. And even though I thought I had overcome it during the first few months, its devastating effects lingered and haunted me in subtle ways.
It wasn’t until a series of personal struggles and more episodes of emotional breakdowns that followed, did it eventually “crack” me and had bring me back to a place of serenity.
This is a slice from that story.
I have been writing and rewriting this article on and off for several months, each time exposing different details and insights. With every version, I would allow self-doubt or excuses to over take me, I would then scrap the piece and start over.
Truth be told, I was embarrassed. I didn’t want anyone to see me this way. I was ashamed at who I had become. I felt lost. I was struggling with everything and I had to “stand up” again.
Then it occurred to me that, sharing my struggles with you is a good thing. It exposes my own battles, the techniques which help me overcome them, and what I have learned through the experience.
It also shows you that all of us are in this together, in that we all dip into the pit falls of life’s turbulence, but we always recover, and often as a better person.
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Lauren RoseThe real voyage of discovery consists not
in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes.~Marcel Proust
Have you ever been in a social setting, suddenly realizing you are not being yourself? This article takes an in depth look at why we play various roles in our lives, and how to overcome these socially conditioned “masks” to be yourself.
Perhaps you’ve caught yourself saying, “I love catching up with my old school buddies, it’s so easy to be myself in their company”? Or, “Felt so miserable at that party, making polite conversation with bunch of superficial people.”
It transpires that we are often not our true selves in the company of others – subconsciously and repeatedly wearing masks that project a certain image of us to the world.
We seem to have a collection of these masks that habitually surface, intending to best serve our self-interest, based on the need of our immediate environment. These masks come in varied shapes and colors like, the aggressor, the conformist, the nice guy, the shy one, etc.
Only when we are able to bring these masks into our active awareness and deal with them, can we be ourselves and experience the freedom that brings.
Time and time again, I’ve watched coaching clients walk into my office stuck, in the fog of confusion about some situation in their lives. They are sure that they don’t know how to move forward, that they don’t know which next step to take.
We’ve all been there – in that uncertain, frustrating place. It’s no fun.
Time and time again I’ve watched those same clients walk out of my office having uncovered a clear, wise answer to their questions, a clear resolution to their dilemma, the kind that allows them to move forward with that wonderful sense of confidence and calm.
I certainly didn’t give them their answers – I don’t have them. They found the answers inside. We followed a simple process that cleared a space for their own answers to emerge.
This article is a guide to doing that process on your own. In 3 simple steps, you can shift from a state of confusion to mental clarity.
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Sandra Lara
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