As I open my eyes in bed this morning, I get this sense of emptiness inside. I see all that I am doing and the goals I am trying to reach pass through my mind like a film real and hear a voice that says 'What are you doing? Does this make any sense? Are you ever REALLY going to reach your goals?'. Interestingly enough, the day before I woke up feeling like I could change the world and move mountains.
So why is that our inner strength and courage can shift so dramatically from one moment to the next and what does that mean? For a long time, each time I would come back to that place where I felt weak and vulnerable, I thought it meant that I didn't actually have it in me to make my dreams come true. I thought that if I couldn't stay in that place of strength and belief that I wasn't meant to live out the visions I had.
We often get discouraged in life when we can't stay in our zone of genius, where we feel strong, fulfilled, courageous and at our best. The line can seem so thin between our courage and our weakness and in a moments notice we can tip over onto the other side. Until not so long ago I still believed that this meant I didn't have it in me to achieve great things. I would think 'I'm sure my mentors don't fall into these dips of weakness. How could they if they are doing what they are doing today?'.
What I came to realize over the years is that falling into phases of weakness is essential to your success. It's in those moments that we feel we have the least amount of power that we get the biggest insights and build ourselves back up even stronger. I believe now that any genius must fall into darkness to keep creating great work. It's part of growing into the best version of yourself. It happens to the best of us and to the biggest of them. It happens to Oprah and Richard Branson and probably to any of your mentors as well. I remember hearing Oprah speak once about how she fell into a very dark space at a moment which looked like, for us, a peak time in her career. Was she any less successful because of it? Not at all. She probably tapped into something powerful during that time that allowed her to keep moving forward at her best. Richard Branson also wrote in one of his books about the time that he had to sell one of his companies and how he ran out of the room all the way home crying because of the decision he had just made. It's probably one of the moments where he's felt most broken in his life but that moment was a huge turning point for Virgin, which brought him even more success.
It's not because you feel weak that you are weak. I think that in those moments, we are in deep transformation, going through a time of transition. If you've ever had growing pains you know how uncomfortable and painful they are. Your body is transforming and becoming stronger but it sure doesn't feel that way. Well in those difficult moments where you feel horrible about yourself and your life and you're doubting everything you are doing, remind yourself that you're just experiencing growing pains and transitioning into a new chapter. You can only move into that new chapter that holds tons of new potential by going through the vulnerability. In my opinion, the only real weakness is if you give up on yourself. Don't let how you feel trick you into settling. Even if the steps forward are harder to take in that moment, take them, one at a time knowing that you're transforming into strength that you didn't even know you had.
Cheers to your success!
Jennifer
↬ This article has been pulled out of my soon to be published book: The art of making things happen: Taking responsibility for the life you want through Intention, Action & Letting go
www.jenniferjane.ca