Are You Holding Yourself Back? - Limiting Beliefs

Earlier this week, one of the captions on my pictures was about the things our minds makeup about ourselves and how that hold us back from reaching our full potential. I write,

In all aspects of life, I have been breaking down the boxes I put myself in. These boxes have trapped me for years on end telling me who I think I am not who I actually am. While I love eating plant based, sometimes that’s not best for me. While I love the comforts of the indoors, I am completely capable of surviving in the wilderness (surprised myself on that one).There are so many parts of myself that I love but when do those identities actually start holding you back? It’s something to think about. I probably couldn’t even name all of the boxes I put myself in. Mostly because they are second nature. They are hard to be aware of.Breaking down those barriers will set you free. Letting go of the fear of change and the fear of unknown can be magical. This is just something I have been thinking a lot about and I wanted to share.

It made me think, what boxes do I put myself in? How am I holding myself back from reaching the next step?(this list is in no particular order and honestly probably isn't everything)

1. I'm too young
2. My thoughts and ideas aren't viable if I don't have a formal education/training in that topic
3. People don't really care what I say/put out into the world
4. There are people doing what I want to do and there's no way I compare to them (or could ever get to where they are)
5. There's nothing that makes me stand out
6. I am not interesting enough
7. I am not assertive enough
8. I'm not a "sciency" person
9. I will be single for the rest of my life (half joking on this one ;))
10. I am independent

Man, this got vulnerable REAL quick. What's new? Not all of these are inherently bad but all of them are limiting beliefs I hold within myself that keep myself in this same little box. No longer, limiting beliefs! We are getting rid of you.To highlight a few (specific beliefs or patterns);

• I feel that many things that I think/say are not viable because I am too young, not trained, etc. and therefore I am a fraud and people shouldn't/won't care about what I am putting out there. Ok, Nikki, this is a bunch of bologna. I get where I am coming from with this but it literally makes no sense. It's not like I am spitting out a bunch of nonsense. I have always been a very observant person and a lot of my deductions about how the world works comes from observing. The things I say, think, and work through aren't just pulled out of thin air and I seem to forget that.
• What people think about you matters. It doesn't and I know that it doesn't. We all know how hard it is to stop caring about what people think. Especially being in an industry where networking is the key to success and in creating a social media "personality" (not sure if that's the right word for what I am trying to say). The truth of life is that not everyone is going to like you just like you're not going to like everyone. I've never been the funny friend. I have a dorky, corny sense of humor that most people don't find funny. Just because I am not this extroverted, hilarious person doesn't mean I'm boring.
• I am independent. This is one limiting belief that is disguised in this nice, shiny package. While I love being independent, I have come to realize that in some ways it hold me back. I am independent but I am scared to lose that independence. I am scared to not have the freedom to do what I want to do. Most of this fear is when it comes to relationships. I know I know, relationships don't automatically mean you lose your sense of self and have to spend every waking moment with your partner. That's the push of society though.

After writing all of this and weeding through all the thought in my mind, I realized that writing this was mainly for me. I hope that my seeing my process in how I am beginning to handle my limiting beliefs, it can help you too. By first addressing those limiting beliefs and then getting to the root of the problem you can begin to work on clearing those beliefs.The boxes we put ourselves can be as small as being "the girl with beautiful, long hair" stopping you from getting your dream haircut to beliefs about you as a person which are stopping you from living the life you dream about. It's hard to break down these boxes. It's scary. It's almost like coloring outside of the lines–we feel like we aren't supposed to do it. The things we think we can do or be are also those that we have never done/been. But think about how much space there is outside of the lines...all of the space is awaiting abundance, potential, and opportunities for you. How exciting :)