Inside: Embracing your limitations means choosing to love and accept your whole self as you are today. When you embrace your whole self you build inner safety. And when you have inner safety you are able to see and practice a new possibility.
In 2016 I wrote a short post that went viral around the world. It clearly touched something deep in many people. Here’s one tiny snippet from that post that I want to talk about today: “What if I embrace my limitations and stop railing against them. Make peace with who I am and what I need and honor your right to do the same.”
Part of the conversation about embracing our limitations is really a conversation about what determines our worth. What are your markers of success or value?
I do not believe our value and worth are tied up in self-improvement (or performing or jumping through hoops). When we stop railing against the reality of life, and we make peace with the full truth of who and how we are, beautiful things begin to grow.
In this episode, I also talk about the story that bigger is better and that many people believe a ‘small life’ is bad or less-than.
‘Small’ or ‘big’ aside, what I care about is if our life is values-aligned. If we’re building a soul-honouring and sustainable life. A right-sized life. (By the way, I first heard the term ‘right-sized life’ from Kathy Gottberg.)
RELATED: You may like this episode called Small Life. Expansive Self.
Embracing your limitations can build self-trust
One way to deepen self-trust and have your own back is by honoring or embracing your limitations. This is a challenging idea for many. In part because people assume that having any limitation is somehow wrong or bad. But also because we’ve taught that to embrace a limitation is to “argue for it” which honestly seems ridiculous to me.
Real or perceived, we need to meet reality head-on. And what happens is that when we embrace our whole selves as we are today, we build inner safety. It is only when we feel safe that we can see a new possibility or practice a new way of being.
So lets say that we live with a self-imposed limitation. Because we feel safe, because we are on our own side, eventually we will find our way to greater freedom.
When we befriend our whole selves we are more able to recognize where we have leaky boundaries, we are intentional about who and what gets our limited resources, we fill up and pour out from a healthy place, we learn to truly value ourselves. We live with more impact and joy.
But the conversation doesn’t stop here. When I talk about embracing our limitations, I also encourage us to embrace our strengths and gifts. We are both strength and struggle, tangled up together. This too is part of the work of quieting the noise and befriending ourselves – the fullness of who and how we are.
Listen to the Rebranding Middle Age Podcast
Links and Resources
- Find Krista on FB: A Life in Progress and also Rebranding Middle Age. Find her on IG.
- Join the Monday Morning Hope Map: Sign Up For The Monday Morning Hope Map | A Life In Progress.
- Learn how to work 1:1 with Krista – learn more here.
- Join the Brave + Beautiful Community: I’d love to welcome you
Free: The Befriend Yourself Workshop
In this workshop, you’ll learn why fixing, forcing, and self-criticism never create the change you long for, and how befriending yourself helps you feel calmer and more capable of bringing to life what you truly want. And you’ll learn tried-and-true ways to be kind to yourself each step of the way.
Relationships In Middle Age Can Be Messy (and that’s good!)
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