Tears of suffering from the harsh lies of the bitch in the corner. Tears of hopelessness, tears of trapped, tears of working, pushing, forcing, trying to make it happen so hard, for so long, so many times that it seems pitiful, idiocy, failure to continue.

And with deadlines looming ahead of me, of when I will no longer receive support, of when debts will be called, of when it must happen or else …. I wonder.

Is the fear right?

Maybe this is impossible.

Maybe continuing this thing is throwing good time, good money, good energy after bad.

Maybe, even though I change people’s lives, even though I’ve experienced more joy and connection and freedom in the last few years than I thought was possible, even though I know there are people that I have yet to help …

Maybe this venture is doomed.

So I wonder … is there another option?

Another option that seems more reasonable.

More likely. More endorsed by society and logic and the bitch in my head.

Well yes. There is another option.

The other option is to go back.

Back to safety, to stability, to a guaranteed paycheck with a great 401(k) and health package and a few weeks of vacation every year.

Back to becoming that girl.

Well … that’s only sort of an option.

You see, that 401(k) menagerie has been ruined for me forever.

Now I know that there is no safe, that the stability is an artifice, that there are no guarantees.

Now that I know, going back would be the foolish choice.

I wish there was some third choice.

Something real but not scary.

Something changing the world, but not risky.

Something following my purpose, without having to face my lessons.

But that’s not how it works, eh?

It’s feel the fear, or it’s be the fool.

We can choose to live in uncomfortable, to take the risks, to grow past our boundaries … or we can choose to push our heads back inside the sand, to chicken out, to shrink our souls.

There is no in between.

#fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck

That is all, my loves. Goodnight.

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And now that horrid, sickening feeling is coursing through your body.

Your mind, your gut, your very cells, the genes passed down to you from your caveperson ancestors who needed them to flee saber-toothed tigers and various impending dooms are all screaming at you:

STOP! IMMINENT DANGER! YOU WILL MAKE YOURSELF DEAD IF YOU JUMP OFF THIS CLIFF!

Worse, they’re shooting hormones through you, sabotaging your great leaps of spirit and faith, by dragging you back down into basic human-animal survival mode.

Into acting practically. Into acting rationally.

Into the deadening morass of the management of risk.

Unless.

Unless you make the choice that makes your ego, the bitch in the corner, the resistance monster, and the caveperson in you all cringe in fear and disbelief, wanting to gang up on you to kidnap your soul and stick you with pins until you give into their mediocratic bidding.

Unless you make the completely unreasonable choice.

Unless you choose to live every day in the Uncomfortables.

Yes, you read that right. Live. Every. Day.

Because that is the first terrible secret.

This panic? This fear?

This sense that you need to run or fight or throw up or hide under a warm thick blanket so the unknowns can’t drag you away?

That feeling doesn’t go away.

As long as you are living your truth, as long as you keep pushing your boundaries, as long as you are moving forward and expanding your soul, you will feel scared and uncertain and uncomfortable every single day.

Yes. Every. Day.

But before you run away to wail and beat your chests, deriding the futileness of it all, let me share the second terrible secret with you.

The Uncomfortables are actually a gift.

The Uncomfortables are a tool to help you live with the ramifications of the Moment, to manage the challenges of Living Your Truth.

The trick is to recharacterize the Uncomfortables from a feeling to be avoided – to a feeling to be appreciated. To be cherished.

Reprogramming your brain to use the Uncomfortables as a signpost, customized for your mind, your body, your soul.

A thermometer to measure whether you’re doing something mediocre or magnificent, whether you’re staying in safety or pushing your boundaries, whether you’re stuck in the shoulds or living your truth.

The third terrible secret is that the Uncomfortables always mean something very particular.

Is this Uncomfortable a scary-yet-exciting, a sickening-yet-expansive message from your ego who wants to keep you small and safe? Does it mean, yes, this scary action is exactly what will move you forward on the path to embracing and living your truth?

Then thank your ego for the fear & take the scary action anyway.

Or, is this Uncomfortable a gross, disempowering, deflating message from your soul who wants you to fulfill your purpose on this earth? Telling you that this scary action is a guilt-ridden should that would take you backward into mediocrity, and must be avoided at any cost?

Then thank your soul for the fear & say no to the should.

The fourth terrible secret of the Uncomfortables is only you will know the difference.

Only you will know if the Uncomfortable means hell yes or hell no.

Sorry about that.

–

This is part 3 of The Live Your Truth Manifesto.

–

How do you deal with the fear, with the uncomfortable feelings?

Have they gotten better? Have they changed for you?

I’d love to hear your thoughts below!

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Until I look up & realize I’ve arrived at the end. The Ferry Building.

And I start looking for that bench. On that pier. To sit and find the peace I desperately need.

Because this morning — I’m full.

I’m full of every feeling that exists.

Hundreds of worries are whorling in my brain.

Am I picking the right pre-K program for Gracie or ruining her for life? Will I be able to pull off the launch of Live Your Truth on Video or will I run out of money? How will I get through all that unanswered email? Where is the title for my car I sold yesterday? Did I pay the AT&T bill? When will I see him again? Why isn’t anyone texting me?

And hundreds of happies.

Relief from selling my car, and fun plans on how to spend the money. Excitement for next month’s speaking gig, for seeing my BFFs in September and October, for feeling the rhythm of my life finally coming together this fall. Joy that my daughter is healthy. Electricity tingling through me as I remember delicious events from the last few weekends.

And I wonder … is this how it will always be?

Does experiencing the deliciousness of life mean that I’ll constantly wake up with a live your truth hangover?

Then a text comes in from my BFF Allison Nazarian, laughing about the idiot thing I had done earlier that morning.

And as I see her name in front of me, I remember her new book, Love Your Mess. And I think … there you go, Elizabeth.

The mess. The whorlybrain. The pacing. The loss of sleep.

This chaos … is not something to fight. To work through. To be over. To finish.

The mess is it.

We are growing beings, expanding ourselves into our souls, into our truth, into the physical manifestation of our purposes on this earth.

And that brilliant process … is sticky.

Chaotic. Uncomfortable. Painfully real.

And at the same time … it’s full of ecstasy.

Growth. Challenge. Love. Sex. Money. Fun.

So sitting on that particular bench, I decided to recharacterize my whorlybrain (just like I recharacterized my uncomfortableness, 14 months ago.).

That feeling of chaos and uncertainty and not-being-there-yet is not bad. Is not something to struggle against or to cure or to move past.

The whorlybrain is me being real.

I will never be done with my whorlybrain. I will never be done with everything on my to do list. With all of my projects. I will never every relationship resolved. Have no conflict. No worries. No ego.

I will never move past whorlybrain into some zen state where my mind turns off and I float magically down the river of attraction, arriving on the island of all knowingness. And I’m finished. Done.

No.

Done isn’t going to happen.

The learning, the exploration, everything wonderful and terrible about that continuous expansion … there is nothing undesirable about it.

The growing is the point.

So instead of being angst filled about my whorlybrain this morning, I decided to be okay about my whorlybrain. Interested. Excited.

Take the whorlybrain as a sign. A sign that it’s all happening.

That the reason I’m so full is because I’m being pulled forward in the delicious and right (yet scary and stressful and profoundly real) direction.

I’m so full because I’m being invited to move past my boundaries, by the undeniable truth of my real.

–

Do you get whorlybrain? Do you get the feeling that you are not there yet? Do you think there is a “there” to get to?

Feel free to leave a comment below – I’d love to hear how this feels for you!

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#notatruestory

No, I’m not going to talk you into this with bullshit promises of fame and glory. That’s not my job.

My job here is to help you make a decision – yes or no. Anything but a maybe.

So in honor of you, of this program, of my purpose in empowering you to live your truth, here’s my guide on how to make the decision to buy Build Your Tribe.

Read the information. Watch the videos. Ask me any questions that come up for you.

For some of you, that will be it. You’ll know, and you’ll join us on the adventure.

And for some of you, you’re still not sure.

You’re still worried, concerned it may not work for you, unsure if spending the $97 pre-sale price is a good investment for your business, for your life.

So for you, I ask you to sit quietly and check in with yourself.

That feeling of uncomfortable – where is it coming from?

Does it feel slimy, coming from the outside of your body? Does it feel like you “should” buy this, that if you don’t buy it you’re missing out on something everyone else will know? Does it feel like this is the thing that will “save” you from yourself? Am I talking you into it, even though your gut knows better?

If that’s you, then don’t buy it.

That feeling of uncomfortable is your soul talking to you, saying that this is not the right program for you today. (Maybe it will be later, and you’ll join us next time. Either way, I still love you and you’re still in my tribe.)

Or … does that uncomfortable feel bubbly? Nervous? Excited-scary?

Is your brain making logical excuses for why you shouldn’t spend the money, why it won’t work for you, why you’re not ready or how you already know this stuff? Are you feeling weird about pushing your boundaries, being yourself online, revealing your truth to the world, taking big steps you’re not quite sure you’re up for yet?

If that’s you, today is the day. Build Your Tribe is for you.

That’s just your ego talking, that reptilian part of your brain who is trying to keep you mediocre and safe, who’s trying to make sure you don’t take any risks, that you keep to the rules of your industry or culture or family and do what everyone else is doing.

You deserve more.

Your business, your message, your story, your calling on this earth deserves more.

Join us for Build Your Tribe right now.

Don’t wait any longer to start creating the rest of your life.

#thatisall

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I’m a tryer on of things. Perhaps it comes from being born in the Year of the Monkey, but I’m driven by curiosity. I want to know firsthand…to taste…to feel…to explore. I desire a myriad of experiences.

In college, I tried on a sorority. I tried on feminism. I tried on sports. I tried on pre-med, art classes, nursing school, public relations, and journalism. And I tried on a hell of a lot of different kinds of parties. Some fit well and others did not.

And in each of these places, I found bits of what is true in me.

After college, I tried on living in Florida, Atlanta, Colorado, and Oregon. I tried on traveling. And I tried on staying put. I tried on corporate life and I tried on entrepreneurship.

In all of these experiences, I discovered morsels of my own perfect gospel.

I’ve tried on many relationships. I’ve been to Burning Man and Mardi Gras. I’ve salsa danced and tantric danced and belly danced. I’ve invested in real estate and the stock market. I’ve made money and I’ve lost money. I’ve had successes and failures.

Each one of these undertakings has opened up new windows inside myself, allowing me to see a new facet of my multi-passionate psyche.

I am a seeker. I am on an unending and relentless quest to uncover my truth.

I’ve giggled at the peak of a mountain, cried in the desert, and screamed at the night. I’ve hated myself and loved myself. I’ve been kind, compassionate, loving…and I’ve been mean, judgmental, and curmudgeonly. I’ve loved and I’ve lost and I’ve let go.

And knowing those things are all part of living my truth.

Find what is true in you.

Do whatever it takes. Let no class be left unattended. No trip left untraveled. No path left unwalked in your quest to find your true self. Find what is calling you. Listen to your inner whispers.

Yes, this will take you though pain and failure and fear. But, it will also result in discovering your passions. You will unveil the truths inside you. And at the end of your life, you’ll be able to look back and say “Hell yes! That was the ride of my life!”

The people who are truly creating long-lasting, success know themselves.

They know their truth. They live their truth.

And to be clear, truth is absolutely and utterly different for every one of us. Some of us will choose to live in a mansion and others will choose to sleep under the stars.

There is no right answer. There is only the answer that is right for you.

When you start focusing on how you can expand and grow through living your truth, beautiful, wonderful, magical things begin to happen. You magnetically attract your right audience. They come flocking to you in droves. People have an internal radar that recognizes individuals who are in their own truth. Because they feel the passion. They sense authenticity.

Finding your truth and living in it day by day, minute by minute is not an easy road. It means you take the most frightening path. You begin to do those things that scare you the most. When we are pushing our own envelope, it feels absolutely, insanely terrifying. And it may take you through profound changes in your work life, your relationships, and your inner world. You will shift. You will rock your foundation and your core.

But, for anyone who really wants to create success and freedom, here’s the thing. It is essential to find your truth.

To live the life you really want, you have to get uncomfortable. You abandon the illusion of security that is daily routine. It starts with your willingness to take risks, leaping into those places that scare you the most. And you know what they are.

You have to look in the mirror and say, “Screw you fear! I am done with your lies.” And instead of listening to the stories you’ve played in a loop inside your head over and over, begin to ask, “Is this true? Is this my truth?” And the barriers that have prevented you from being your biggest self will begin to fall away.

This is when life becomes really delicious. It’s when you are raw and energized and in love with every single person that you meet. You are connected to your true self.

So do what it takes to step into your full power as a human being. Be curious at every turn. Keep asking “Why?” Find your Great Work. And then be wildly generous with your assets. Share your joys and your gifts with others.

Speak your truth. Embrace your truth. Live your truth.

And I’ll be right there with you on the journey.

So adventurer, what do you seek? Let me know in the comments below…

About Wendy Maynard: Wendy writes MavenDiary.com, a blog about how inspired entrepreneurs can express our truth through personal branding and online marketing.

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