As Bird is growing, we are navigating more interactions, making more decisions and taking more (calculated) risks. There have been some moments lately where I’ve felt hesitant to act, feeling a bit like I’m unclear what the next right step is. My response to certain things has been to freeze, to park certain tasks on a to-do list, that in reality ends up being a to-do-at-the-last-minute-when-I-absolutely-have-to list.
I was working with Natalie here at Bird HQ, sharing a particular issue that I needed to work through, and she offered brilliant a metaphor:
‘It’s time to put on your Big Girl Pants’.
It was brilliant. It was an acknowledgement of the level of challenge involved with the task, and with that, it was a call to action to step up into my power. What I heard in that metaphor is that I am capable of stepping up into my Big Girl Pants, I am capable of doing hard things.
The metaphor reminded me of the Self-Compassion break which we often encourage clients to use. It’s a process that has three steps: 1. Acknowledge the situation you are in is hard. 2. Remember common humanity – you are not alone in this feeling, someone else in the world will feel the same right now. 3. Put your hand on your heart and give yourself a supportive phrase, a supportive phrase like ‘I’ve got this’, or ‘I can do hard things’, or ‘it’s time to put on my Big Girl Pants.’
Sometimes it’s about stepping back, surveying the situation, remembering you are not on your own, and remembering you have strengths, creativity and resourcefulness to move forward.
With love as always, Hannah and Team Bird