Confidence sprouts from firm trust in one’s choices and capabilities. But what is it to be capable? Capability is simply the ability to do a specific thing.
The feeling of knowing how to do something, or surety that you could do it, is powerful, isn’t it? Many of us have that feeling everywhere we go and we don’t even notice it. Many of us know we can stand up from a chair, but few of us take time to appreciate this confidence around our basic physical capabilities. Mostly because many of us don’t have to think about these things.
If you’ve ever dealt with chronic pain, trauma, injury or disability, however, you know what it’s like to LOSE trust in your capability. When we lose trust in our capabilities, a piece of our confidence gets chipped away and doesn’t come back until that trust is rebuilt.
The issue is, we often don't take the proper steps and time to fully regain trust between ourselves and our bodies. We do just enough to get by, reconstructing our movement and lives on a rickety foundation. We see that loss of confidence come out in the form of anxiety, physical pain, self-sabotage, loss of sleep, anger, drinking/smoking, over exercising, not exercising, over eating, not eating, etc.
At this point you might be asking yourself, “Why is a fitness company talking to me about my anger issues?” Because, like it or not, it's all related. Our bodies are the vessels that get us what we want in life, and if the trust between us and our bodies is tainted, our choices start to narrow.
To restore trust with your body, deep communication must take place. The higher the lack of trust, the higher the amount of necessary communication. Love is a function of communication. Where there is no communication, there is no love. Take time to listen to your body’s cues, be with its sensations, appreciate its capabilities, listen to its intuitions. Demonstrate how you will take care of your body from now on because you need its expert guidance on this journey called life.
