I’ve just turned 35 and now that I am considered an adult, one of the things that gives me the sense (or illusion) that I am indeed in control of my life is making my own choices. To me, that is the true meaning of freedom: the ability to alter the course of our own life though the choices we make. I take pride in the belief that I make pretty solid decisions most of the time.

In this post, I share take-aways from a conference which focused on the mind-body approaches for healing trauma. This conversation appealed to me because it discussed how different components of one’s life work in sync to either improve or take away from one’s optimal functioning. Although we all have various needs and values within each of these domains, different aspects of our lives are interconnected and affect one another.

The Ebbs and flows of nature take place independently of what we wish to be happening.
 
I’m not quite sure if it’s merely the fact that we’ve been required to be bound to our houses, but the Texas heat is starting to feel quite hard to bear. I dream of cool, crisp mornings, and crave a change of season. Regardless of how I feel about that, I am only left with the option of patiently waiting for the cool down to come along (if that ever happens because - Texas). Surely, I can try to resist it, but if I decide to wear a sweater and drink pumpkin spiced latte merely because I’m sick and tired of the heat, the heat will not go away and I will be struggling even more than before. It’s the same with the seasons of life.

Ah, the excitement of it all…. New ideas, running high on all the possibilities and options, feeling empowered and fearless, as if nothing can stop you. 
 
But then you come across your first roadblock and that little voice of self-doubt that was quiet for a while, starts taking up space. At the beginning you manage to ignore it, but every time things don’t go exactly as you planned, it becomes louder and louder. You might look around to make sure you’re hearing it correctly and indeed- all you can find is the “evidence” pointing towards failure and signs that what you want isn’t possible.

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.

If you are a high-achiever and always have a long to-do list, it is likely that you are familiar with a nagging voice that just won’t let you relax. The one that keeps telling you that if you take time to slow down, everything will fall apart. The one that steals the peace of your present day and convinces you that if you worry some more, you might come up with a solution to all your problems. The one that tells you that who you are isn’t good enough, so you need to read that next book, attend that latest self-development course, be better, do more, and follow in the steps of others who seem to have cracked the code so they must know better than you. Then, maybe, you will finally feel content and confident in who you are. Then, you will be happy, fulfilled, and will be able to relax.