Escape from Awful Land

We’re back with the third blog in the Being Worthy series and how discovering your worthiness can greatly improve your life.

Last time, we took a look at the Periodic Table of Worthiness and found that there are many elements that contribute to a positive sense of worth. Once we are good with our worth, it’s important to do things that make our corner of the world better, no matter how small. By doing so, you become a Worthy Warrior!

Today, I’m going to talk about Awful-Land. On the periodic table, these elements are emotionally radioactive, light up in red, and are highly destructive to our personal cornerstone of worth.

But where exactly is Awful-Land?

For me, it’s a very horrible place, much of my own mental creation.

Maybe you can relate to this. I have a tendency to be my own cruel critic. A therapist I worked with 35 years ago would note “that you’re constantly shoving a lightning bolt up your butt.” Many times in my teenage years, I was told I was stupid, ugly, lazy, or immature by my classmates and some teachers at Awful-Land Prep in Brooklyn. Some of this was reinforced at home to the point where there was no safe place to hide. So, to borrow some lyrics, I’d get lost in my mind (The Head and the Heart) and would get lost in my music, forget the day (Boston).

Welcome to my Awful-Land!

It’s sort of a place where I built (maybe you do too) an emotional dark civic center containing a Court of Damnation. We are our own prosecutor, judge (always negative), jury and executioner. Next to it is our very own jail cell where we can sit in a state of depression, shame, guilt, and despair.

Along the cell block of negativity, we fail to notice that there’s no lock on the door, no guard, and no other prisoners. We’re free to leave at any time but somehow we don’t until we realize “Hey, I can be free!”

Personally, my awful thoughts would include crippling negative self-statements (introjects), anxiety, depression, and impostorism. None of these are valid. In fact, quite the opposite.

How do we get out of Awful-Land?

Well, one way is to jump on the train of worthiness and get to a better place. It’s not far!

Walk out of your own prison. Say “Screw this!” to your incarcerating sentence and realize that you matter and are entitled to something better in your life. You’re free to pursue whatever that is if you give yourself the permission to do so.

Perhaps it’s nothing more than a serene place in the sun for a few hours. Maybe it’s getting away from the tyranny of should and musts that drive guilt and despair or even getting out of a bad relationship.

Know that whether you like it or not, life is a constant dynamic process. Things change and you will be OK no matter what.

The ability to bounce back from adversity is based upon a simple equation: Hope + Worthiness= Resilience. I’ll have more to say about this in the next blog in future days.

If you find these ideas interesting, there’s more in my upcoming book Being Worthy-A Step by Step Process to Discover Your Innate Worth. You can also follow along on Facebook and Instagram.