So my big girls started swim lessons this week. Like many parents we want the girls to learn to be safe in and around the water. I sat through their entire 30 minute lesson nauseous, sweaty, head pounding, & mind racing. The fear I felt was almost crippling. Watching my kids be kids (read: not following directions) had me so filled with anxiety that I felt like I was watching myself from the other side of the room. I could not shake the feeling that some catastrophic would happen.
As I was talking to a client the other day I told her how important it is to trust herself and her baby. My words hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized that my girls have this innate ability to trust themselves and I do not. Our children, from the minute they are born, are taught to distrust all the things that God equipped them with to navigate this life. We are marketed all these gidgets and gadgets to fix ourselves and our babies. Did we come into this world broken? Or is the world breaking us every chance it gets in order for us to release the trust we have in ourselves?
I realized that my anxiety and fear, that has been accumulated through my lived experiences, is being projected onto my girls. It’s the exact opposite of what I want to do. Many of us are learning what it means to trust ourselves. At the same time we are raising children that are pushing us past our fears. We want them to be brave and resilient and powerful but unintentionally dampen these qualities with rules and regulations.
Today I am challenging you to allow yourself to be freed from the grips of fear. Your life will be better because of it. Your children will thrive and become more sure of themselves.
Leave a comment below and let me know when did you learn to distrust yourself? How are you reclaiming trust of self in your life?
