{SHOW UP} // This is what it means to be an adult: to show up, to own our mistakes, to make reparations and take responsibility where needed, to do the work of learning to be a more compassionate, whole, conscious Human, to hold ourselves and the people around us accountable to moving onward and upward.
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The power of Shame is that it tells us (quite convincingly, I might add,) that our mistakes or misses or short-comings make us bad, unworthy, unforgivable, unloveable.
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And often times, we believe it.
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We stop showing up because we reason that “If I’m already afraid that I might be bad/unworthy/unforgivable/unlovable, and then I show up and someone ELSE tells me that I’m bad/unworthy/unforgivable/unlovable, then it’s confirmed- it’s true. I AM that awful thing.
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And so, our defense mechanisms spring into action- they keep us small and prevent us from showing up because (we think) if we *don’t* show up, then there won’t be an opportunity to have that deep dark fear confirmed. We “get” to stay “safe” by staying hidden and small. We’ve rationalized that living with the *possibility* that we are that awful thing is better than living with the fear of it being *confirmed* if we DO show up.
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It’s a masterful bind that we find ourselves in- isn’t it? Fear vs. Fear.
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So what do we do?
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We show up anyway.
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