Juicy in the front.
Seriously people, I am growing juicier by the day since taking on this juicy personal research project. Up at 5 am daily, blogging twice weekly, and quickly becoming a social media maven in promoting my work. Developing a juicy brand, with so many juicy directions I can go from here. As with any kind of leveling up, there are often various upgrades needed to keep up with growing needs.
This past week found me upgrading my technology infrastructure. Both my laptop and my iPhone were quickly running out of storage space to handle my video projects. If you have ever maxed out your storage space like this on your devices, it’s a real pain. They start to snag, and lag, and it becomes difficult and frustrating to advance your work.
Can’t have that cramping my juicy style! So off to the Apple store I went, where a lovely sales associate helped me pick out a new 15” Macbook Air and a new iPhone 16 ProMax both with the highest capacity storage space available. Ahhhhhhh … the sweet freedom of having the space you need to meet your growing needs.
As it turns out, my Apple person was looking to level up, too. With a social media project close to her heart that she desperately wants to launch but finds herself terrified to put herself out there in public. Terrified to step forward.
It IS terrifying to step forward! Especially with a creative project that comes from the heart. When you want it so bad, you can taste it. But for so many of us, there’s trauma and intersectionalities at play that make stepping forward feel like stepping into a pit of deadly, venemous snakes.
Listen, if you see the space in front of you as life-threatening, then it makes it very difficult to step forward. Don’t matter how much you want that dream or how close it is to your heart. If your psyche believes you’ll get taken down by venemous snakes, it will fight you tooth and nail, from stepping forward. AND, the more trauma and intersectionalities you carry, the harder it is to step forward (really take that in - those of you with complex trauma and multiple intersectionalities - I’m with you).
Here is what no one talks about. Your relationship with space. And how you may unconsciously be holding lethal stories about the space in front of you. Stories like, “it’s not safe for me to shine.” Or, “if I outdo my mother, she’ll go on the attack.” Or, “if I stand out of the crowd, then I’ll be scrutinized to death.” What happens is that you don’t end up fearing just your mother, or just the teacher, or just the venemous snakes; you end up treating the ENTIRE space in front of you as a lethal danger zone. And chances are, you’re not even aware of it. Why would you be? No one teaches us to relate to the space around us in our day-to-day lives.
I have good news for you. This is all workable. It takes time and consistency, but you can change your relationship with the space in front of you. And it’s all in the pause. Here’s a sequence to practice befriending the space in front of you:
PAUSE: As you show up at the line to do your work, as you show up at the line in your day-to-day life, take time to pause.
SETTLE: Settle into your body. Feel that you have a body. Take your time.
BE WITH THE ENTIRE SPACE IN FRONT OF YOU: Give yourself a nice wide view, and take in the entirety of the space in front of you. Take your time.
LET YOUR EYES WANDER: After taking in the wide view, let your eyes freely wander around the space. Notice what you notice. What is your eye drawn to? Let your eyes be curious.
KEEP AT IT: This is not a one-and-done. Keep at it. Good times to try this are before a task, when fear creeps in, to support a creative mindset, when entering into a new space, when holding space for someone else, and anytime when in a position of leadership.
Holding juicy in the space in front of me, for all of you. Every single one of you.
What happens in the fear state is that your eyes become fixated on danger. Your view narrows, and you’re not actually taking in the entirety of the space in front of you. In this new sequence, you’re settling the body in and redirecting your focus to take in a nice wide view. Befriending the entirety of the space in front of you. Then, as you start allowing your eyes to wander freely, your eyes come out of freeze (and fixation on danger), and move rather with play and curiosity. What we’re talking about here is a complete, juicy rewiring of the way you see the world before you and relate to the space in front of you. How much easier it is to step forward now, when the space in front of you feels safe.
This, my juicy friends, is how you’re gonna step forward with all your juicy goodness. With safety and belonging to the juicy space in front of you. My mind returns now to my Apple associate, and my deep knowingness that she most certainly can live her creative dream out, and how I hold safe juicy space in front of me, for her, and for all of you here, to do your good work in the world.