When I started writing again this year, I felt as if something needed to change. It was not so much that something was wrong, rather that I had once again gone through a phase of personal evolution over the last couple of years. It was becoming more and more clear to me how language shapes not just the way we think and feel, but our reality.
As most of you know, I’m am an MBI coach and in one of her initial lectures, Martha Beck asked us the number one reason why people commit suicide. What was eye-opening eight years ago, today feels like common sense.
Language is the number one reason that people take their own lives. Some of us may be familiar with the example of how two people can look at the same glass of water and see two different things. It’s all about how we communicate, not just with others but with ourselves that creates our perceptions.
This brings me back to what I began with. I feel that I want to speak and write clearly, simply and concisely. So far so good. What caused me to skip my last two blogs was the fact that I also feel that I need to be more forthcoming personally. Dare I say it, show more vulnerability. Faced with this rather too-close-for-comfort predicament, I decided to skip writing altogether and you all witnessed my flight response. And also my freeze response… it’s worked out rather nicely for me, that as a coach I can empathize with all manner of clients.
On a serious note though, I hope you’ll come along as I step out of the shadow of ‘we’ and ‘us’ and move into my own light. I know it is a scary prospect to show up without any masks, but it’s scarier still to not fully live the truth of who we are. For those of you waiting in the wings, let’s do this. Together. It’s time to write a new story.
Best
Afshan x