Unfiltered Pages: entry 001
Welcome to my unfiltered journal pages, where my thoughts are messy, where I will probably share too much, and definitely where I see the humor and the teaching moment in everything. These entries will be raw, real, and personal. I am sharing the story below with you in hopes of inspiring a closer look at the things we say to ourselves or choose to believe from others.
For this story, let’s roll it back a bit… like, waaayyy back. I grew up as a lake rat. I was water skiing, driving boats, riding jet skis, wakeboarding… I don’t even remember a time when I couldn’t swim. You could not get my brothers and me out of the lake at the end of the day. Fast forward to the present: I haven’t done water sports in over 15 years. This past weekend, I had a family reunion at my cousin’s lake house south of us. It was such an amazing time and brought back such wonderful memories! My husband was laughing at me because when we got off the highway and onto the winding roads, it was time to crank up the music and open the sunroof! Lake-Beth is back, and I was ready to play!
My cousin had a Sea-Doo and was kind enough to let me ride it. I took off like a speed demon, and it was like riding a bike. I remembered all my moves and was jumping wakes behind pontoon boats in no time! (shhh.. I may have gotten it up to 60mph, too!) One of my cousins was on another jet ski, and we were both smiling the entire time, racing each other and just having fun!
We docked our rides and later that afternoon, someone goes, “You’re too old to be riding those things”. Um….what? FIRST OFF— it doesn’t even matter how old I am (48). Second, did you immediately think what I thought? I thought, “Wow, this is so NOT about me”. This is about him. I let that comment fall right on the floor, and I told myself, “You are not too old to do ANY THING”! If it was a joke, it was a bad one. If it wasn’t a joke (and I don’t believe it was), then that’s an unfortunate limiting belief he carries—and tried to project onto me. I am not mad at this person whatsoever.. because again, that comment holds no weight with me.
However, it did get me to thinking about all the work I have done on myself over the years. How that work allowed me to quickly see that comment for what it was, shrug it off, and keep on moving forward, being the bad-ass that I am.
While we are here, let’s take another moment to consider where comments like that come from. Think about all those times growing up when these limiting beliefs were put upon us. They could have been outright said verbally (I can think of quite a few), or could have been subtly picked up by our impressionable souls. And these can come from every direction, and most of them are unintentional! I truly believe that most family members, friends, teachers, etc, are not going out of their way to hold us back or kick us down. They are just carrying around their generational trauma, their own limiting beliefs that they have not examined, and are not being fully aware of the damage this could cause another person.
Luckily, as we age, we get to choose to pull out those limiting beliefs, examine them, and REWRITE THEM!
Trust me, you do not want to be one of those people walking around leaking negativity onto the people that surround you because you can’t let go of that hate/anger/bitterness/shame/guilt/fill in the blank. I know those people and it’s a cancer. I used to be that way in my 20’s because it was too hard to look within. But, I did it finally in my 30’s. I chose to stop the cycle and do the work. (but that is another story for another time).
I still have limiting beliefs that try to rear their ugly heads from time to time. But, I have an amazing therapist and we work through each one because I’ve got a business to build, people! I’ve got days to slay, amazing relationships to foster, women to gather, and a God that is walking alongside me and wants nothing more than to see me happy!
I encourage you to reflect on what limiting beliefs you are still holding on to. We are never too old to examine them. We are never too old to try something new. It is never too late to want more out of life. This is a perfect art journal prompt, too! If you would like a step-by-step healing exercise to follow, I have one right here.
Do you have a story or limiting belief you’d like to share? Please comment below or email me. I would love to hear it, and I would love to connect with you.
“When I changed how I looked at the world, the world changed how it looked at me” ~Dr. Jim Doty (more of his interview with Mel Robbins here)
