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Embracing Struggle and Finding Presence: Two Essential Steps to Overcome Fear
Struggling isn’t just a universal experience, it’s a natural part of living purposefully. In this episode of “Working Towards Our Purpose,” I open up about my own struggles with fear, self-doubt, and negative thought cycles.
Recognizing and Accepting Your Struggles
The first key step is all about acceptance. Struggling with fear, negative thoughts, or self-doubt isn’t a sign of weakness or unworthiness, it’s part of being human. As I share the night and morning before recording this episode I was really struggling with thinking about not feeling good enough, self doubt, self criticism. For many of us, the reflex is to tie our negative emotions directly to our self-worth. If we’re feeling down, we think something’s wrong with us.
Accepting that how you’re feeling is okay and you’re worthy as you are and there’s nothing wrong with you, is the crucial first step toward healing. This level of self-acceptance doesn’t change your circumstances, but it does shift your relationship with yourself. Simply acknowledging, “This is what I’m feeling,” allows you to step out of unhelpful mental spirals and begin to care for yourself with compassion instead of criticism.
If you need the reminder today: You are worthy as you are, however you’re feeling.
Finding Presence: The Power of Now
Most of our anxieties and fears live either in the past “should have done this…” or the future “will I have enough money?” “Can I achieve my goals?”. I talk about this mental trap and instead counter with trying to get yourself to the present tense. The present tense is the only thing that’s real and it’s the only thing you can actually do something with and focus on. But how do we break out of endless worry and root ourselves in the now?
Simple Strategies to Cultivate Presence
Physical Movement: Moving your body is one of the best ways to get unstuck. Go for a bike ride or a run helps me refocus on the moment. Even just walking can direct your attention to the physical sensations and beauty around you so that you can bring yourself back to the present.
Yoga and Breathwork: Yoga has been a great practice for me to get out of my head. I use those 10 minute yoga classes on YouTube. After a class, you realize you’ve stopped thinking about whatever you were worrying about because you have to focus on what the instructor is telling you. Moving your body and breathing together, there’s no room for overthink.
Journaling for Gratitude: Sometimes writing out what you’re grateful for can reframe your mindset. Listing a few things you appreciate shifts your brain from scarcity and worry to abundance and acceptance.
Slowing Down Intentionally: When tasks pile up, it’s easy to get caught in “not enough” thinking. Consciously taking things off your plate and focusing on one thing at a time can allow you to embrace enoughness.
Be Gentle With Yourself
Struggling is not a flaw to fix but an experience to move through with kindness. By following these two steps, acceptance and returning to the present, you can gently guide yourself out of fear and back into abundance, one moment at a time.
If this resonates with you, leave a comment about a time when you were struggling, to encourage others that it’s part of the journey of working towards our purpose.