Last week someone mentioned that my line should be are you hidden, instead of are you hiding. That person was upset because he knows something is hidden and doesn’t know what to do about it. So, my phrase actually did it’s job. It got him thinking and a bit upset. That’s what gets people out of their comfort zone and taking action.
Are you hiding, implies a choice and something that you can act on. Are you hidden, implies there is nothing that can be done about it. We all have a choice. And I know that most of you who resonate with the phrase know that there is something hiding. The challenge is you don’t know what it is. And that’s okay. That’s why we get the help we need to discover that. I know I do with the coaching that I receive.
Our greatest gifts most often are hiding. We are afraid of what will show up, and don’t feel worthy.
So, what happens when we are up against the wall with the hiding? There will be projections that someone doesn’t understand us. We will blame them for what we are not seeing ourselves. We will fiercely protect that piece within and maybe not even look at what we are presented. We will discredit others so that we can be right. And at times, we will get overwhelmed and give up. Feeling that there isn’t any answer to the situation. And there always is an answer, and many times it is uncomfortable.
We might know that we have to change our patterns. We might have to confront someone which makes us uncomfortable. We will have to stop fooling ourselves and take action. We will need to get coaching or mentoring to help us through it. We will need to invest in ourselves when we can’t even imagine how to pay the bills. And the list goes on.
This weekend, I was excited about writing my first book. And then I realized that I had already written a book in 1995 which I didn’t honor. It was my masters thesis. It was a topic that was cutting edge and not considered academic enough. It was about Feminist Detective Fiction in Post Franco Spain. It wasn’t in the literary canon and was popular fiction. I was given a terminal masters, meaning that I couldn’t go on unless I “proved” myself. I was ashamed and embarrassed and actually, this is the first time I have admitted that in public. Because now I understand it. Fast forward 15 years later, I was approached by a professor who asked why I didn’t write a dissertation on it. He just saw my work and is doing a class on it because it is cutting edge right now. He was inspired with what I did.
And I know that this book I’m writing now is cutting edge. I’ve known that this work I’m doing is cutting edge. All my life, I have been ahead of the trends. And I have been knocked down. And I chose to hide. I was afraid that if I came out of hiding, it wouldn’t be accepted and it would be “shelved” yet again. And what’s really funny is how I work with my clients is just like that detective. I see the clues that most people don’t and help them discover the mystery of themselves, so they can bring it forth in their business.
Times have changed. We all know that. Time has sped up. What took 15 years takes less time.
I’m sharing this with you all because I know many of you have been on the cutting edge. You have said many things and not been believed. And you are hiding. You are not hidden.
You get the choice.
What do you choose?
