PS. I like you is a newsletter for creative humans with self-doubt. Subscribe and read along to get answers to all the questions you didn’t know you had about self-doubt and making a creative life 🌿
Have you ever wanted to give up?
Yep, me too 😉
Wanting to give up is perfectly normal.
But what sometimes happens is we forget this; and assume there must be something wrong with us if we’re having this thought.
And then we battle to resist or ignore it. Or sometimes shame ourselves for having the thought in the first place 🙃
But what if you ‘gave in’ to the thought?
What if you imagined ‘giving up’?
What would that actually look like?
Often not what we think it means.
Sometimes we want to GIVE UP because we’re having a bad day. And sometimes what we actually mean by ‘giving up’ is taking a break. (Not such a bad thing!)
Or sometimes what we want to give up is a specific idea, that no longer aligns with who we are now.
Maybe what we mean by ‘giving up’ is that we want to re-prioritise. Maybe it simply means reorganising and re-adjusting to what our life is calling for right now. (Again, no bad thing!)
The thought of ‘giving up’ is often a catch-all. For so many thoughts and feelings underneath.
“I WANT TO GIVE UP!!” is our mind’s way of getting our attention. It’s a tad dramatic, sure 😉 But, in its own way, effective.
So next time you’re thinking of giving up, and you feel yourself wanting to resist it…
I invite you to explore it.
Imagine giving up. Right now.
What do you notice? How does your body respond?
These are clues for what you want and desire. There is no shame in exploring this.
Think of it like a check-in or alignment.
Do I still want this thing? Do I want to do it right now, in the timeframe I’d envisaged? Do I want it in this specific way I imagined?
You probably don’t want to burn it all to the ground. (Even though I know it sometimes feels that way.)
So see what you specifically do want.
And then go from there. No shame in giving up required. 🧡🌿
Love,
Kathryn
PS. I like you
It was my birthday last week. I highly recommend celebrating with noodles.
…and ice cream.
PPS. Looking to make a change this year — in your creative practice, creative business, or creative life? There are absolutely many ways to do this. One of them is enlisting support in the form of a coach — who can be there for you to help you move through resistance and self-doubt (which inevitably happens!), and keep you on track while you come out the other side.
“It is incredibly helpful to have someone standing beside you and shining a light, supporting your desire to live a kinder, more expansive inner life that will shape a kinder, more expansive outer life too.’
— my lovely client, Natalie
The biggest thing I love in getting to work with my clients is seeing them grow into their creativity… and their creative selves 🧡 If this is something you want too, check out my coaching page, or set up a free consultation call.