Conscious Choice: Who to Be If Not You?

This week two of my clients discovered huge “shoulds” around being different than who they are.

“I did great last week when I was home every night.  I love being home and not having to go out.  This week several of my friends want to hang out.  I should go out with them, but I’d rather be home.”  As we talked, I realized that my introverted client felt she had to be more like her extroverted friends.

“My cousin lost weight on Weight Watchers.  My husband follows a high-protein diet and it works great for him.  I’ve tried both several times and I don’t lose weight.  What am I doing wrong?”  As my client spoke, I heard that she hadn’t found her natural way to lose weight.  She was slowing her progress to discovering her way by thinking that her cousin’s or her husband’s way should be her way.

Finding our own way is not as mysterious as we might initially think.  Does it energize and excite you?  Does it feel good to you?  Right for you?  That is your way!  No matter how different it is from what those around you are up to.

Does it drain you?  Feel like a burden?  Do you hear (actually or implied) “I should?”  That is not your way!

The specificity of you is never, ever to be repeated.  If you really, really knew that, how might you shift the way you do your life?

If you’d like more specifics and activities around this wonderful topic of being more you, then grab your copy of my book: Thriving Work: A Journey to Your Best Self.

And as always, I invite you to share your responses and experiences in the Comments section below.

To noticing when you aren’t allowing you to be you and then consciously choosing more of you . . .