Recently, I returned to the hypnotherapy training room, but this time as a classroom assistant helping new students.
I must admit, I felt a bit anxious at times because I was out of my comfort zone.
If I’d been teaching people about coaching, I’d have been in my element—it takes no effort to access my knowledge and know what to say. But with hypnotherapy, it felt like a big responsibility to properly know my stuff before being let loose on a bunch of students.
But damn - it was good for me!
How do I know that?
Because I felt uncomfortable.
I needed to overcome self-doubt and remind myself that I had gained a wealth of knowledge about this new subject over the previous year.
They say the best way to learn something is to teach it forward, and I benefited so much from the extra pressure to really know my shit.
When I was helping the students do their first practical hypnotherapy exercises on each other, I was transported back in time to my first few awkward, cringe-worthy attempts at doing it myself—trying to appear calm and in control when I was inwardly screaming “AAAGGGGRRRHHHH! My mind’s gone blank! I have no idea what I’m supposed to say next!”
It felt like trying to serve a tray of champagne from the back of a rodeo horse.
I reassured any bewildered, overwhelmed students that I used to feel the same way and that it would get easier with practice.
On the way home, I felt a warm glow of satisfaction for how far I’d come on my own journey in just a year.
When you’re head down in “doing” mode, it’s easy to forget what you’ve done to get to where you are and to give yourself credit for everything you’ve gone through, whether that’s in your professional or personal life.
Over the years, you’ve challenged yourself and stuck it out when things didn’t feel easy.
That’s bloody brilliant.
Give yourself recognition for riding your own crazy rodeo horse, cowboy!
Yee Haa!