Hi ,

So let me first congratulate you.

Yes you read that right, I want to congratulate you on being brave enough to admit that you struggle with self trust. The vast majority of people have this issue... and won't accept it.

Just the fact that you're reading this email tells me you're someone who's ahead of the curve and maybe even ready for change.

It took me over three decades to get to a point where I could truly face this problem in myself enough to do something about it.

For many of us, the problem begins when we're young. Something about the way we're raised makes us internalize a habit of doubting, questioning, or second guessing ourselves.

I personally, was raised in an environment where I was even told what I was and wasn't feeling. Things that were said to me in one breath, were denied in the next and I was rarely (if ever) given space to process my own reactions.

I was told what I was doing, thinking, feeling, and so on.

When we can't trust our own hearts and minds... the world feels like such a foreign and hostile place. After all, if we can't even trust what's happening internally, how can we trust what is around us?

We end up feeling small, lost, and hopeless.

Can you relate to me on this?

When we can't trust ourselves, we close ourselves off from a wealth of knowledge, experiences, and possibilities. We consign ourselves to a life of questioning everything and still feeling conflicted and confused.

Frankly, it's exhausting. Isn't it?

So how to do begin to trust ourselves enough to open up the world we've always dreamed of but never dared to consider possible for us?

Well the great news is, you've already taken the first step!

Admit the problem.

Only by being aware of the issue and being willing to admit to ourselves that it's a problem do we take the first step on the path toward fixing it.

Forgive.

It takes a clean slate to move into a trusting state. To do that, it takes forgiveness. We have to forgive those who conditioned us not to trust ourselves. We ALSO need to forgive ourselves.

Yep. That's a tough one but it's absolutely vital in this process. Forgive yourself for being so reluctant to trust yourself.

There's a reason almost every recovery and healing modality out there includes this step. Forgiveness is a balm for the soul. By engaging in conscious forgiveness of those who've trained us into this untrusting state and ourselves for allowing it... we can begin anew.

Begin to listen.

Listen to your heart, your mind, your intuition. They've been speaking to you all along but you've been suppressing, second guessing, or straight-up arguing with them.

That internal voice has gotten real quiet after all these years. You're going to have to start listening to it.

This is going to take practice. It probably will take using tools such as journaling, meditation, mentoring/coaching, and/or affirmations to reprogram your ways of thinking.

But you're going to have to practice, practice, practice. You will have to choose not to give up if you get something wrong. You'll have to remind yourself that this is a process.

It's going to take time and effort. All true change does. Yet in the end... the life that's waiting for you on the other side is truly breath-taking.

Being able to live in trust and flow is like going from being the rock in the river. Fixed and still forever being battered by the current as pieces of you are worn away steadily over time. To being the log that floats along in the rush, bobbing along and enjoying the ride as each bend brings something new into view.

It's worth the work to learn to trust yourself.

I'm so grateful I've gotten to this place today especially. We sign a new lease today for our family and enter into a very expensive phase of life. Yet I know we will be ok because I trust myself.

I have a short story to write that has yet to fully reveal itself to me. Yet I trust that I will find it when the time is right. Because I am following my passion and my heart to fulfill a dream I've had since I was a child.

I've also got some help to do these things and that makes a WORLD of difference!

So how about it? Are you ready to start trusting yourself again? Will you give these steps a try?

If you're ready to jump into this process and you'd like some support, let's chat about it. Just hit reply and let's see if we can't get you to that self-trust sooner.

To Your Dreams,

~Elizabeth Watson