Some questions you might be asking about your life…

Do you feel tight and constricted all the time?

Do you feel the weight of all the shoulds on your shoulders?

Do you sometimes wish, “If only I could be who I really am…”

Do you ever get the sense that you are trying to pretend not to be who you really are?

Do you ever feel like the rest of the world is so off track, and you know what it needs, but you can’t get anyone’s attention or they think you are weird?

Would you like to be more visible in the world? … but everything inside you screams “Stop! You won’t be safe! People won’t understand me!”

Maybe you have even manifested an illness, or chronic emotional or physical pain, which is not fun but at least it allows you to say NO when you need to. And then you have time to do what you want to do.

Maybe you stay sheltered at home, kind of hiding out, or in an unchallenging job, or your life is filled with trying to meet the expectations of other people. Maybe it feels like that has been your only way to get love and approval and a sense of belonging.

So you keep on keeping on, soldiering on, wishing your life would change but having no clue how to make that happen. (And maybe there is even a little voice in the back your head that is saying, “Yeah, but if I change, then what? Who would I be? I won’t know how to be in the world without my pain/anger/fear/self-criticism! It is safer to stay where I am…”)