Breaking Free from the Stories That Hold You Back

For most of my life, I’ve lived a story, stories, really.

It’s not just one.

Lots of us do this.

I didn’t realize they were stories; they felt like indelible truths, reinforced by how I live, react, and show up.

A self-fulfilling prophecy of confirmation bias continues the cycle.

These “indelible” truths are the puppet strings that pull me in whatever direction they choose.

These stories have kept me small, kept me from what I am, now in midlife, drawn to with a gravitational pull:

Potential.

I feel a desire to discover, understand, expand, and unleash my potential.

I feel alive and aligned with the Hemingway quote,

“Go all the way with it. Do not back off. For once, go all the goddamn way with what matters.”

The first half of my life could have been measured in half-cups because so much of what I did was half-measures and half-steps.

It’s as though I spent the first half of my life trying to skydive partially.

The stories, those “indelible” truths, confined me to the ludicrous notion that I could partially skydive. They confined me because of what I…