The power of possibility

The possible’s slow fuse is lit by the imagination.

Emily Dickinson.

I felt a positive shift in the direction of my life when I began to embrace the power of possibility. I believe this is what first set me on the road to healing and flourishing.

THE CATALYST

I’d turned 50. The catalyst was a chance meeting with someone I had long forgotten from my college year group. He ran his own business, something I’d not really come across. My friends were all people who worked in traditional professions like my partner and me. Employees, not entrepreneurs.

It got me thinking about the different ways we live our lives – and the existence of all kinds of possibilities I’d never considered. I could feel a new excitement bubbling up inside me. Could I live a different kind of life too?

I started reading, dreaming about – and embracing – new possibilities. The world began to open up to me.

THE POWER OF POSSIBILITY CHANGED MY LIFE

From this new perspective, I realised my legal career – that took almost all my energy and focus – wasn’t the be-all-end-all I’d let it become. So I negotiated a part-time contract to explore other possibilities.

I remembered youthful dreams and passions that I’d buried or forgotten as life became more and more complex and I struggled to make my way with undiagnosed ADHD. I got excited about renewing my old passion for photography and the possibility of pursuing it more seriously.

So I embarked on a new love affair with photography and volunteered at an animal shelter. I spent more time with friends and loved ones I’d neglected by unthinkingly prioritising my career or simply surviving.

And miraculously I began to thrive as I did more of the things that made my heart sing.

HOW WE LIMIT OURSELVES

Gradually I began to see how much I’d been limiting myself, and as a result how limited my world had become.

For example I was so scared of failing or looking stupid that I often wouldn’t speak up or try new things. Don’t get me wrong, I could do it when I had to. But it was hard overriding my default settings.

I was constantly worried that I’d be exposed as a fraud even though other people thought I was good at my job. After all, I knew what I felt like on the inside and how hard I had to work to hold things together.

I had no idea at the time that this lack of faith in myself and my low self-esteem could be traced back to undiagnosed ADHD.

WHAT LIMITS ARE YOU IMPOSING ON YOURSELF?

What limitations are you imposing on yourself? Do negative self-beliefs keep you imprisoned in a cage of your own making? Perhaps you give all your energies to your career like I did because it’s so hard to succeed with ADHD, especially when we don’t know we have it.

Imagine what you could achieve if you believed in the power of possibility! If you became open to possibilities rather than giving in to self-imposed limitations!

WRITE A NEW STORY FOR YOUR LIFE TODAY

If you’re like I was, your inner critic may talk you out of trying new things. Maybe that voice in your head reminds you of all the ways you could fail. Or perhaps it just tells you you’re no good at anything.

I want you to know – really understand – something it took me far too long to recognise. That voice in your head, the story you live your life by, it’s not reality. It’s just your thoughts!

Let me say it again because it really is that important: those negative voices are simply thoughts, not the reality of your life.

So starting today, challenge the negative thoughts when they show up to stop you taking a risk.

Write a new story.

Embrace the power of possibility.

When you stop imposing limits on yourself and instead explore your dreams, try new things, your world will open up. Amazing things are possible!

What new possibility will you choose to pursue, starting today?