How Life Swallowed & Spit Out Your Self-Confidence (And How to Get It Back!)
by Tera Warner
Remember how it used to be?
In the early years, you had the world by the ovaries!
You had colorful dreams, big, bright ideas and you reached for them and preached them from the pulpit of your dirty sneakers.
You danced when the music came on! You didn’t worry about how it looked or if you did it the “right” way! When you wanted to get somewhere, you ran. Not because you were afraid you didn’t have time—because you were excited to get to where you were going.
You stumbled and fell and scraped your knees, but that didn’t matter. You were too interested in butterflies and mud pies and monkey bars! In those days, you dragged the world behind you on the frill of your skirt and it felt fantastic!
Then something happened…
People started to ask you serious questions like, “what do you wanna be when you grow up?” (As if being YOU wasn’t enough?!) You learned the way it works–you’re supposed to grow up and be somebody everybody else thinks is important!
So you looked at your books and movies and toys to see the things you could be, and with a burst of enthusiasm blurted, “I know! I know! I’m going to be an astronaut!! or a queen!!! or an actress!!!”
And that’s when the all-knowing adults (who knew what life was really about) said:
“That’s nice.”
“Don’t be silly. That’s ridiculous!”
“You can’t do that. Nobody does that. That never happens!
“Are your pants on the floor? Pick up your mess. Did you put your bowl away?”
“Shhhh. Don’t talk so loud.”
“That’s three times I ask you to brush your teeth.”
“You’re making too much noise!! Stop interrupting me! I’m busy!!!
“You’re taking up too much space!!!!!
*sigh*
And that’s when a slow drip of seriousness started to steal your spirit of play and Life became awfully convincing.
After that, if you’d run and fall and scrape your knees, you worried more about how hard the sidewalk was and you forgot the reason you were running in the first place!!
Then school started. 🙂
You learned your ABCs and how to please the teachers by answering questions and writing in between the lines. You didn’t want to be like those messy boys who got in trouble for dragging in mud, or picking their noses or staring out the window looking at the butterflies while the teacher was talking!
And all those girls with the pretty curls and shiny shoes didn’t like you as much if you talked too too loud or said stuff that was “stupid!”
You liked being liked, so you got better at following rules and writing between the lines. You said less and nodded more. You stopped spilling soup on your skirt, stopped wiping your nose on your shirt and made less peanut butter stains by wiping your hands on your pants.
You sat up straight and got more quiet and cooperative. That was nice because people liked you. Then, when you turned 10, a multi billion dollar architecture of insecurity tried to take a bite out of your pride! And since then all those minutes you’ve spent pinching inches and pimples in front of mirrors, were not spent living and loving Life.
Too much livingness has already been lost in the need to please. We let an overinflated importance about how we look steal the thunder from how we live and it’s time to take it back!
The history of humanity is sitting your hips. Years of trapped tears are held tightly in your spine and sit stuck as the proverbial “weight” on your shoulders.
You don’t need another thick book or self-development guru to give you a boost.
It’s physiologically impossible to dance and feel like crap.
It’s mechanically unworkable to wriggle and jiggle the juiciest parts of you, and feel like you’re not enough!
It’s emotionally impractical to abandon your body to the beat of the music and feel regret about the past or anxiety about the future.
When you move your body you escape the eternal to do list, the unmet expectations, incomplete projects and insecurities you’ve dragged around like a ball and chain behind you and (for as long as you keep moving), you are in the moment, alive and thriving.
What if it really is that simple to lift yourself up, %$firstname$%?
How will you know unless you try? 😉 Join us on October 19th and find out.
Love and sweat bands,
SWEAT YOUR PRAYERS AT THE
CHURCH OF JIGGLE!
Forget about another self-help lecture! Get off the couch.
Move your body. Feel the music. Come alive!
