Latest / Forged In The Dark / Two Kinds of Backward
Transcript
- Forged In The Dark: A children's toy, stepping backwards, and a realization during a yoga practice. I know, I know, strange combination. Welcome to Forged in the Dark. I'm your host, Jamie. Let's dig in. Now, for those of you who are new to me, yoga found me at a very, very dark place in my life. And from the very first class, I knew there was something there. But if we would fast if we fast forward a little bit, there would come a time where A particular yoga style called the yoga you need actually fixed my knees when surgery didn't. So yoga. Between finding me in one of the darkest parts of my life and fixing my knees when surgery didn't, well, it's become a staple of my life. I I taught classes three to seven days a week for seven, eight years. it's just been in the last six months that I retired my last class and it was called lifelong strong. And I I developed lifelong strong, not just from the yoga you need, from every type of yoga I've ever been trained in or practiced. But yoga, especially the strengthening type of yoga I practice, it really does help me carry myself through life with more physical energy and less physical pain. And I'm incredibly dedicated to this practice. So The other day, I was in the middle of a rather lengthy practice. And at one point, as I was walking up to the top of the mat, I hit a point where And then I felt my hips shift back. but I thought, huh, isn't this odd? Why did I shift backwards right here, right now? And and then I started noticing. And and I started and I was doing this more often. And that got me thinking about stepping back. Like I literally in that moment in real time was like, stop stepping back, stop stepping back. You step forward, you plant your feet, inhale, arms up, go. There's no step back here. Why do you keep stepping back? So I think this this becomes a question for all of us here today. Do you step back? When do you step back? And and and and most importantly, what is that step back? How how big is it? How significant is it? Because here, we go forward and up. we may we may veer, we may zigzag, we might go over the river and through the woods, but we never go backwards. But hold on, what happens when we do go backwards? Because it does happen. And this makes me think about years ago I felt like I was going backwards. There were things that I was working on when I was building a coaching practice. And and when something wouldn't work out, and it wouldn't work out, and it wouldn't work out, no matter how many things I tried, I would feel like I was going backwards. And it would take me years to understand the concept that sometimes we have to be pulled significantly backwards to propel forward. That's the slingshot. Now there is a difference between the slingshot and the tiny little steps backwards. Think about, think about just walking, walking down the street, walking your dog, walking to your car. If every other step you took a tiny little step backward, it really wouldn't do much. It would just take you a lot longer to get everywhere, right? So those little step backwards, kind of like me and those that series of sun sows where you know I would hop, step, or jump all the way to the top of the map, but but before I would go back into mountain, I'd take that little step back. What is that little step back costing you? What are those tiny little those call them detours, right? What what are they costing you? Why are they even there? So, so there's that side of it because that's where you can just put your foot down and say, stop. Like I'm done. I am not going to keep taking these tiny little steps backwards because the only thing it's doing is delaying me getting to where I'm trying to go. But let's talk about the bigger steps backwards. Let's talk about those unexpected challenges. That you don't see coming. Sometimes they're even so significant that they knock the wind right out of you. One moment, one day, you are soaring along, everything is going fantastic, you're happy, you're positive, progress is being made, and then poof, here comes that blow, or that other shoe goes down. And that's probably the place where you throw your hands up in the air and say, why does this keep happening? Now, in in a lot of other episodes, we've talked about f putting your foot down and breaking the cycle. And yes, that's important. And this pullback may be an opportunity for you to do that. But today I really want you to I want you to think about the steps back that you're making. Because you are making small steps back. And imagine if you just shifted those steps backwards into side steps where you're still moving forward. But let's not let let's not get out of here without exploring the big, the big pullback. It took me years and tears and And grief and frustration and anger and in every other emotion to understand that oftentimes, right before we are propelled forward into what comes next, into something really big, into something really important, into that promotion at work, into that bigger stage, or onto that bigger stage, that bigger audience. Whenever you are facing what comes next, it is incredibly common for you to get pulled back. And that pullback, it can feel bad, it can feel harsh, it can feel like you can't breathe, it can feel like you're failing. But I want you to think about a slingshot. where you have a rock and it's basically a rubber band and a stick. Now, if you take the rock, like you're holding the slingshot in your left hand and you're holding the rock in your right hand. And if you don't pull back on the on on the rock, the on the rop, on the rock and the band. That rock is literally just gonna fall down on your feet. Like if you just if you just let go of your fingers without pulling back, watch your toes. But when you are in this pullback, if you can really take a moment and appreciate the pullback, look at what is there. Is there something that you are missing? Is there a belief that hasn't quite like that hasn't quite gotten there? Is there a door you forgot to close? An eye you forgot to dot? What is the lesson that is asking you to be pulled back, to be pulled down into that place you don't want to be one more time? When are you going to grab the rubber band, pull back as hard as you can, and then go flying, go catapulting into what comes next? Sometimes the the the little steps backwards, they're they're attention getters. They're there to see how much you're paying attention. How on earth, after all of these years and all of these thousands of sun sows, why did I stop? Why did I start adding this little step backwards? I mean, yeah, I'm getting a nice little stretch there, but I don't want to step backwards. So I am going to use my conscious mind and I am going to stop stepping backwards. But when it comes to the big stuff, The whoa, why did that just happen? The my gosh, I'm so close, and this is so frustrating, this is so scary, this is so. When are you going to grab that band, pull back hard, and let yourself go flying into your new life? The pullback might be there to show you something little. It might be there to show you something big, but just because you find yourself in a place of fear or failure or uncertainty doesn't mean any of those things are true. It's an opportunity for you to correct those steps instead of backwards. Think about going side to side, zigzag, let's go around the corner. But we're gonna, you know, we're gonna keep going forward. And then you can start to recognize the bigger stuff. What is this? Why do I feel this way? This is so close. my gosh, I am on the verge of something huge and I am ready to fly. So I say pull back on that band and let yourself fly. All right. That's what I have for you. Until next time.