In our journey of seeking to expand our performance, we experience shortcomings. Times where we miss the mark – mistakes, losses, setbacks. For instance, a practice, competition, or day may not meet our expectations. In fact, we might deem it a failure because we feel a lack of something. A lack of skill or conditioning, a lack of circumstances or luck, a lack of determination or mental toughness. We feel as if we are not enough because we have failed.
These experiences might feel as if they are pulling us down below the waterline. This is uncomfortable. Anytime we might feel like something is making us drown, we instinctively react by fighting it, trying to survive. However, allowing our experiences to touch us is important. We do not want to resist our shortcomings, or ignore them, or completely forget about the mistakes we made. We need to face them. When we fail or come up short, these experiences bring us valuable information about how to grow in the future. Perhaps they are not trying to attack us, but help us.
When we understand how to grow from that experience, we begin to build so we are abundant where there was previously a lack. This allows us to release these experiences so they are not keeping us up at night. Learn and let go. Then we refocus ourselves on our values and goals moving forward in specific ways. How will we show up and allow these changes to manifest? Learn and let go. Let go and let yourself grow.
We are spiritually buoyant by nature, designed to float and not sink. Sometimes we feel insecure and freak out when we experience failures because we feel like we are not enough. We are overly attached to our performance and these moments feel like they are attacking our identity, pulling us underwater. However, if we trust the process by facing these experiences head on, learning from them, and adapting our lives, we see that we are buoyant. That we float and are stronger because of those experiences that tugged at us. There is no need to freak out, because those experiences are not trying to drown us, only submerge us below the water for a moment so we can come back up anew, changed for the better.
