Did you ever hear of the 5x5 Rule? I didn’t until I was reading one day and came across this article that spoke about how we let what others think of us, actually stunt our growth. Well, let's just start by saying it really got me thinking. It’s funny, I often tell people I don’t care what others think of me, after all, I was an Executive for years for Assisted Living communities on the East Coast, but deep down inside I did care. I wanted to be liked and wanted people to think highly of me. The reality was I was not being myself until I started working on myself and doing the “shadow work” and integrating my consciousness.
I actually feel we all want to be liked and if someone likes us then it validates that we are good. The fact that my mother always worried about what the neighbors thought, transcended to me. I think back and think how funny that is now. But, at times, believed it and believed I had to show up as someone else to be liked because I was not good enough the way I was!
What have I learned? Well, if something bothers me in 5 minutes, I ask myself this.
Is this going to affect me in 5 years? If the answer is NO, then let it go. If you hear YES, then you better start asking yourself more questions.
The reality is we need to like ourselves. We need to integrate aspects of ourselves, those parts that we find so very hard to connect with, and the parts that we have repressed and placed under the rug so to speak. Sound familiar? Listen, I am not going to say that it would be easy, but at least we would know where we stand with ourselves and get to know ourselves better.
Hope this Inspires you!
Love over fear,
Joann