Expectations and the Flight Imperative

You’ve made a decision to start a project, have chosen a path or are taking a journey that is new to you, in other words, you’ve reached the clearing and have the runway in sight.  You have expectations but you’re keeping the story small and at arms length, and as you venture on you start encountering obstacles, or your progress slows down, you’ve hit a glitch, and your momentum comes to a grinding halt.  

What do you do now?  You’re fighting the voice in your head that wants a big, emotional story, you’re fighting resistance that wants to shout in your ear “I told you this was a stupid idea.”  You can feel all this emotion getting closer and closer to you, so what do you do?

STOP and LEAN INTO IT.

Yes, when every fibre in your body wants to run the other way or collapse on the spot and give in to the pressure, do what is least expected, LEAN TOWARD these uncomfortable feelings. I first heard of this idea from Seth Godin and his book The Dip. It works!  When I stood, faced and leaned toward these emotions it took all the air out of the negative energy and felt incredibly empowering.

I truly believe that the only way out of a difficult experience is through, is to feel the emotions, put your shoulder against them and LEAN IN.