“At a certain point you just become immune, immune to the perceptions, immune to the sabotage, immune to the gossip, immune to anything that is aimed to bring your peace down,” Richard Miller.  Stepping into our identity creates fear because it symbolizes a form of segregation, an isolation from the group—from what we’ve known.  One of the reasons we rely on familiarity is because it feels good and we know the prescribed norm of familiarity.  We know who we are in those scenarios.  But when we start to feel suffocated by what we know, we have to ask what’s next.  Those around us witnessing the transformation will try to bring you back in because there is safety in keeping things status quo.  They will use tactics like sabotage, gossip, and things that put us on edge in order to bring us back toward what we know as familiar.  Sometimes we do it to ourselves.  I’m guilty of falling into bad habits because I didn’t want to feel on the outside and I didn’t want to create disruption in the group.  I became the subject of different perceptions and sabotage and gossip—and my peace was most certainly disrupted.

Without a firm sense of self and a solid foundation in what we value and believe—knowing who we are—it’s easy to be thrown off course by the opinions of others especially as we navigate a new trail.  The hardest thing to do is stand firm in who we are in spite of what others think, say, or do.  Especially those closest to us.  Those tend to hurt the most because we want support and to know that someone believes in us—so when we have to step out with nothing but our own belief, it can be challenging. But that’s exactly what this means.  Do we have enough resolve to follow through on what we say we want?  Are we willing to take the risk and step out of our comfort zone or entirely in a different direction to stand in the process of creating and being something new.  We have to become resistant to the words of others when we know what we are working on.

The more we move like water, the more we let things flow including the opinions and words of others, the easier it is to realize what’s important and what isn’t.  It’s the same with anything.  When we start working out, it’s difficult at first, it feels uncomfortable, we feel overwhelmed.  We will feel the same as we learn to shut out the voices of those we used to revere.  Look, we need people, I don’t pretend it’s been healthy to do it alone.  But we don’t need the input of those who know nothing about us and what we are doing.  There comes a point where we realize we don’t need to wait for anything—if we want it we do it.  And we don’t need to worry about what others will like.  I’ve been working on a project for 6 years that I fought tooth and nail for and those around me didn’t understand.  I kept going because I knew what was right.  Within seconds of having the appropriate audience, it was like a key unlocked—so all that time spent worrying and trying to convince people meant nothing in that arena.  Their voices didn’t matter because I knew what needed to be done and I did it. So we let go and hear what we know instead—if we are to live our own lives we must hear our own voice.  Take the time to listen.