So… What are Limiting Beliefs?

Limiting beliefs… So what exactly are “limiting beliefs”?  Let me share a story that might shed some light on this.

“I’m afraid of heights”

Once upon a time, there was this girl. Her name was Brittany. She grew up in the projects of NYC and often felt limited. She got a scholarship to a day camp that was usually reserved for the higher income kids. She felt blessed and grateful! Things were going great! All the kids liked her and her friends. It was nice not to be constantly reminded of being “poor”. Then one day the camp counselors said “Field trip!” All the kids want to know where they were going because it was boring sometimes just hanging in the YMHA all the time!

  Turns out they were going ZIP LINING!

At first, Brittany was filled with excitement! She’s never been zip lining before. Matter of fact she wasn’t sure she even knew what zip lining was! Too bad this was before “JFGI” age (Just Freaking Google It lol) When she and the kids finally got to the campgrounds they were let in on the secret of what zip lining really was.

Apparently, zip lining is quickly zipping through the woods harnessed on a line. As soon as Brittany saw the height of it, she was like “nope! I’m not going on there! I might DIE!” (she was quite dramatic sometimes lol) She already had in her mind that she was afraid of heights and the fear kept her from even WANTING to try. She saw the kids (some younger than her) going on the zip line and living to tell about it. She felt like she was missing out. Like she, dare I say it, wasn’t one of the cool kids anymore.

Sometimes peer pressure is the perfect catalyst.

Then one of the younger kids came up to her and said

“Brittany is a scaredy cat! Brittany is a scaredy cat!”

and she couldn’t have that! She was a girl from the projects! They were “known to be tough”! Her “street cred” was on the line.

She said “STOP! I was just waiting for all you little kids to go first! So I could take my time.” At this moment Brittany had to decide if she was really waiting for a special moment or was she going to take the leap now?

Stay tuned for next week… Just kidding! lol She went on the zip line and nearly died! No, not really. (lol) She had so much fun and all the kids cheered her on as she went zipping through the woods. When she finally got down she stopped and thought “What if I hadn’t done it? What if I had chickened out? Would I later regret it? YEP!” This is one of those times when peer pressure was actually a plus!

You see, Brittany was dealing with “Limiting Beliefs”.

Limiting beliefs are ideas you acquire over time that keep you from doing whatever they say you can’t do. People have these around all types of things but usually, it’s around things that involve them. Beliefs like “I am not good enough and I don’t know enough to charge more” or “I am not good enough for a raise” or “I can’t get on this ride because I am afraid of heights”.

All of these are limiting beliefs that keep you from doing a certain activity because your brain has decided it’s futile.

• “Why try if you’ll fail?”
  • “Why try if no one is listening?” (A need to feel heard)
    • Which eventually becomes “Why should I even try?”

The first step in overcoming limiting beliefs is discovering you have them. This might be hard because they tend to show up as absolute truths in your life. You have plenty of evidence showing you they are true in your mind so what else are you to believe? Imagine if Brittany would have let her limiting beliefs get the best of her and not do the zip line. What would she believe because of that? She might believe that she’s not very active, or she’s not very outdoorsy and neither one of those are actually true. She believes this because of one experience completely negating her years as an active, outdoorsy girl scout.

Could you take a moment and share in comments whether you have any limiting beliefs you know of? And how do you think they are affecting your everyday life?

Until next time!

Coach Brittany

Are you ready to overcome the limiting beliefs that are keeping stuck in place even when you know you’re meant for greater things?