‘Michael’, The Coffee Drinking Habit

A story of success, despite mistakes made!

I have felt almost as many nerves this week as I usually experience in a week leading up to a fight. With my interview on Lori Hammond’s podcast being ‘fight day’.

Listen to Lori’s Podcasts HERE

With any new skill, any experience requiring us to step out of our comfort zone, into our growth zone, nerves are almost inevitable.

The pressure to perform well. You have done the practice and now the time has come to put it to the test. Striving for perfection, with a fear of failure…

But, how do you define failure?
It certainly is not imperfect action!

Imperfect action beats perfect inaction, every time

Harry. S. Truman

I ran my first successful habit change hypnotherapy session.
And it was a success, as he hasn’t had more than 1 coffee per day since, down from 4-5.
With sleep improving, health-improving, and feeling in control of his decisions again…
The session was delivered with confidence, the techniques went well, I felt good… until I realised my mistake!

Then I immediately felt mortified. Shame. How could I have done THAT?!

My session was with Matthew.
But, throughout the session, I had called his subconscious mind MICHAEL.
Luckily, Matthew was lovely and reassured me that this was why we were PRACTICING.

Yet, in my mind, I was battling that inner voice, trying so hard to make me believe I had ‘failed’ and that I was no good.

Luckily, I have got good at shutting that negative voice up. And I know that the best way to overcome shame is to speak out about it.

The less we talk about shame, the more control it has over our lives

Brene Brown

Although I was worried and had that faint little voice going on inside my head still, letting me know people might judge me negatively, think I’m no good, a fraud, I went straight to our hypnotherapy community and shared the experience.

www.jaqcuinhypnosisacademy.com

ALL of the experience. We are often conditioned to only share our successes, but I have been practicing imperfection. And this is a trusted community – we are there to support each other.

And support is exactly what I received. Highlighting how wonderful the community is and how powerful honesty is.

The negative voice was silenced.
No one could ‘find me out’ as I had already shared it all.

And, by accepting my own vulnerability and opening up, it allowed others to share their experiences too.
Creating a greater connection and confirming that no one is perfect.
We just live in a world where the majority choose to only show their highlight reel.
Often leading us to compare, judge ourselves negatively, and make our lives seem inferior/flawed/*Insert appropriate negative*.

This is why, at my core, I choose to operate with honesty, courage, and freedom.

It takes courage to open up honestly to a world fuelled by ‘who can be better’ and ‘beautiful, talented, rich etc.’ is idolised.

But I find freedom, and happiness, by embracing ME. Imperfectly

It’s not always easy. I can feel the draw, the appeal, to only show ‘the best bits’. To make myself seem better… I am competitive – I like to be good at things! Part of me even wants to be THE BEST.
But even ‘THE BEST’ is imperfect.

Striving to improve is healthy, striving to be the best you can possibly be is admirable… striving for perfection is foolish.

And thanks to the support I received, my confidence increased and I even shared the ‘story of Michael’ to the world, on Lori Hammond’s podcast. Which will be available soon HERE

Now let’s see if I can get Michael onto world stages!