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There's no place like home for Crystal Andrus
Have you ever taken a wonderful trip but in the final few days of your holiday you long to come home? You actually begin to look forward to getting packed up, headed to the airport!
As the plane begins its decent home, a feeling of excitement begins to wash over you. As you look at the familiar landscape below—the buildings and streets—restlessness builds inside. As you climb into your car, all you can think about is the comfort of your own bed, your perfect pillow, and cozy blankets.
Now imagine looking into your own eyes—at your own reflection—and experiencing that same feeling: Home … comfortable in your own skin … safe in your own body … excited by your life, and where you’re headed.
I’ve traveled enough to know, there’s no place like home!
Feeling at home with yourself can only occur once you realign your thoughts, words, and action with the “real you” rather than the version of you that’s maybe been in charge for far too many years. It is knowing who you really are and liking that person.
It’s very different than losing a large amount of weight yet feeling as though you’re living in someone else’s body, terrified the scale will go back up.
It’s not the feeling of falling in love but working double-time to be enough, do enough, perform enough, so that he’ll think you’re enough.
It’s very different than capturing your dream job only to fear that someone will figure out you’re not quite equipped for it, or that eventually the ball will drop and you’ll screw up.
Have you ever felt this way? Like an imposter? Like the world will soon discover that the image you’re projecting isn’t the truth about how you feel deep inside?
I have and it’s awful…
At times, my outer world may have appeared to be fabulous but on the inside I was racing … running … pushing … even clawing my way through … afraid to stop for long enough that someone might figure out that I wasn’t so fabulous after all. I was so afraid the momentum might run-out so I never allowed myself to slow down. I didn’t consciously know I was doing it. I thought I was just a “mover and a shaker”—working hard to get a head. Working hard to manifest my dreams!
Inevitably, I’d crash. Sometimes for a day. Sometimes on and off for a week. Sometimes it often felt like a never-ending blur of highs and lows, with me pushing through it all. I was a survivor!
Inevitably, my weight struggles would resurface, my money woes would wiggle their way back in, and my relationship would take another blow. Still, I continued to focus on my problems and on what I needed to do to overcome them!
I knew from an intellectual level that my outer world was reflecting my inner world but I couldn’t quite figure out how to stop worrying … how to stop clawing … how to stop the raging inner battle. It was my programming.
How exactly was I supposed to get from stress to success?
Frustration to contentment? Desperation to assurance?
How exactly was I supposed to “come home” to myself?
Well … here’s how:
Coming home can only happen once you decide to stop running … to stop chasing … to stop numbing, escaping, avoiding, or negating. Once you decide to stop trying to be what you think you should be, what you think others think you should be, or what you wish you were.
Coming home has nothing to do with where you live in your outer world but everything to do with where you live in your inner world. Yes! Your outer world may change … but not permanently. Not until your inner world shifts.
Coming home magically begins to occur from deep within. Once you decide to change the way you think. Change the way you speak. Change the way you feel. Change the way you see things. Change what you believe—mostly about yourself!
You can’t talk negatively about anything and expect positivity in your life. You can’t see the worst in others but develop the best in you. Beating up on yourself won’t get you there. Blaming won’t get you there. Pushing, fearing, fighting, or fretting won’t get you there.
I promise!
I’ve tried it!
I know!
Coming home is about surrendering all your struggles to God—knowing that you don’t have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, a moment longer. It is about rediscovering just how fabulous you truly are—regardless of your past, mistakes, or flaws.
It’s about deciding to focus on where you’re going—on solutions, believing wholeheartedly that success is your birthright. And that it’s everyone’s birthright!
Coming home is about taking purpose-driven risks and trusting implicitly that as long as you remain courageous, filled with the utmost of integrity, absolutely everything will work out.
It’s about talking to yourself the way you deserve to be spoken to; treating yourself the way you deserve to be treated … and treating others the same way.
It’s about embracing on a deeply personal level that:
you matter,
that your life matters,
and that you can’t waste another moment of your God-given talents on fear!
* * *
Crystal Andrus is a bestselling author, international speaker, women’s advocate, host of “The Crystal Andrus Show” on CBS Radio, and Founder of “The S.W.A.T. Institute (Simply Woman Accredited Trainer)” ~ the world’s #1 online Personal Empowerment Certification Coaching School, exclusively for women. She can be reached at www.crystalandrus.com or www.swatinstitute.com.