5 Masks of Holding Back
If you are wearing one of these ‘masks’, you are holding back and playing small. There’s no shame in that, but recognize what you’re doing so you can step into your power and go into your business bigger, bolder and better than ever before.
1. Busyness – This mask looks like you stay really busy, working a lot of hours on tons of different projects, on the phone or email a lot and involved with other people’s projects. In reality, this means you are not working the critical inch of your business and allows you to stay in distraction and avoid what you don’t want to see or handle.
2. Other people’s judgment – This mask shows up when what other people have to say is enough to change what you’re doing or even stop you, especially when their judgment doesn’t make any sense. It could be that they have ulterior motives, conscious or not, and that has nothing to do with you. If you don’t feel good about what people are sharing with you, don’t follow it – and certainly don’t let it be enough to hold you back!
3. I’m not enough – This mask is really common and takes a lot of different forms, like: I am only one person, I don’t know how, I don’t have resources, I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t have credentials, etc. Let’s just put it this way: you had the idea, and that’s your invitation directly from Source energy to explore it further. You have everything that you need and anything will show up as you go.
4. Fear – This mask has many faces, and some of them contradict each other. Here are some of the most common: fear of failure, fear of success, fear of death, fear of living all the way, fear of leaving loved ones behind, fear of looking foolish, fear of being the first, fear of being last. Fear has two reasons for being: 1) to warn you of potential danger and, if that is not evident, then 2) to stop you from taking action into something you don’t yet know. If you need to take action, don’t let fear keep you small.
5. Have to have it all or can’t begin – This mask is usually worn by business ‘newbies’ or ‘wannabes’. If you think of believe that you have to have everything in place before you begin, you’re wrong. It’s counter-intuitive to think this but it is in starting that you will have it all. Begin and the way will become clear.