Is Competence Your Downfall?
Is Competence Your Downfall?
Break free from striving to earn your worth.
Have you ever noticed the more capable, competent, and resourceful you become, you simply find yourself enlisted (and re-enlisted) to do more and more—which you do, faster and faster—and despite the uncomfortable level of tasks and obligations piling up, you hustle along, radically perfecting your efficiency (as human machine), determined to do (and be) better, as you unswervingly persevere to come through for all those around you (your kids, pets, partner, colleagues, parents, friends, neighbors, and even strangers) who reap the benefits of having an incredible life (you helped create)—all while not stopping to realize you’ve completely abandoned yourself and neglected your own?
Do you look up and painfully wonder, years or even decades, later, Where is my life? What happened to me? Whose life am I living? What happened to my dreams and plans? Or, perhaps, it’s simply buried too deep to consciously acknowledge, within you.
If this is you, it’s not your fault. You are not alone.
For centuries (millennia, actually), women have been cast in a role of unequivocally supporting and prioritizing most others above, and often at the expense of, ourselves. So deep is this societal conditioning, that to go against the grain of it often produces tremendous feelings of guilt (for ‘shirking our responsibility’), uneasiness and unworthiness (for making ourselves the ‘priority’), unconscious rage (for not understanding why we feel unable to honor or prioritize ourselves), as well as delivers the back-handed ‘slap’ of irritation, annoyance, and anger (not our fault) in all those around us who have been trained to believe and to expect that our unconditional caretaking of them is our moral and fundamental responsibility.
For any woman who has been responsible to and for others, by default, for years, the sheer overwhelm of trying to feel, process, or even question such an onslaught of incredibly uncomfortable emotions, all at once, can cause us to simply cave from its pressure and re-submit to remaining in lock-step with what is expected of us, at the expense of our own awareness that our peace, health, emotional well-being, or pleasure is being compromised. To competently (effort and) perform (on autopilot), something we’ve been doing for many years, is often much easier than the potential battle (and ensuing consequences) we will face, should we decide to SAY NO. And yet, I ask you,
Is sacrificing your joy, your happiness, your pleasure, and your peace worth what continuing to prove your ‘enough-ness’—your competence—to another, is costing you?
If you find yourself experiencing internal (or external) dread, annoyance, frustration, or rage, when required to do a task, or favor, for someone…feel obligated to oblige the request of another, despite strong internal resistance or an emphatic, inner NO…feel resistance, guilt, or even a panic attack, at the prospect of declining a task or a request that does not feel good to you…
You may be compromising your feminine integrity by pulling yourself out of alignment, to come through, for another. This entanglement can feel overwhelming and I can help.
From Striving to Arriving
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
Feel Stuck & Unable to Move Forward?
Have you ever noticed the more capable, competent, and resourceful you become, you simply find yourself enlisted (and re-enlisted) to do more and more—which you do, faster and faster—and despite the uncomfortable level of tasks and obligations piling up, you just hustle along, radically perfecting your efficiency (as human machine), determined to do (and be) better, as you unswervingly persevere to come through for all those around you (your kids, parents, partner, friends, colleagues, neighbors, pets, and strangers) who reap the benefits of having an incredible life (you helped create)—all while not once stopping to realize you’ve utterly abandoned yourself and completely neglected your own?
Do you look up and painfully wonder, often years or, perhaps, decades, later, ‘Where is my life? What happened to me? Whose life am I living? What happened to my dreams and plans? Or perhaps, it’s simply buried too deep to even acknowledge or try to access, within you.
If this is you, it’s not your fault. You are not alone.
How to Overcome the Pain of Self-Betrayal
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.