How many times in your life have you let an opportunity pass you by, because you didn’t feel good enough?  Or didn’t believe in yourself?  Or let the opinions of others stop you from even starting?

 We all have a light within us and too often the darkness of our past prevents us from moving towards it.  We feel shame, like we are not good enough, and who we were stops us from becoming who we could be.

Growing up in a small country town, I used to knock around with the naughty kids, and whenever ANYTHING went wrong, we were singled out by teachers whether we did it or not.  We were judged and expected to be part of the problem.  And because nobody believed in us, we didn’t believe in ourselves.  Internally as I grew up I was either ‘guilty’ or felt I couldn’t live up to the success that was presented as an opportunity.  Even now when I am called into an office, I feel like the 'detention' slip is waiting on that person's desk.  But I've learnt over the years that the feelings are based on my past, and they aren't real for now or even the future.

I’ve known so many friends and clients who because of their past, have not stepped into their full potential.  Because they have made mistakes and had a series of failures, they believe that the future is written.  But nothing on this earth is guaranteed except death.  We cannot know the future, which is exciting.  We are not our past, your future is not your history.  We can choose to change at any given moment, all we need often is support to implement new habits.

Often, we can only know ‘light’ when we experience darkness.  If we were happy all the time, we wouldn’t recognize happiness, it would just be normal.  So, the darkness we have experienced can be a ladder to the light.  We know how bad things can be, and if we follow the opposite feeling (rung by rung) and practice, eventually we will reach the good.  The past does not define us, it only teaches that we don’t want to go back to that place again.

We all need at least one person to ‘see us’ and believe we can be the best version of ourselves, and that person is staring back in the mirror.  Yes, you may have failed before, yes you may have a ‘past’, but yesterday has gone.  Don’t let yesterday be the shackles of your future. Today is always a step forward to the person you want to become and you can choose what that looks like.  Be a P.E.A – and if you need support to navigate the path, I’m in your corner.  Let's talk.

Katie x