A woman went to sleep one night and had a terrifying nightmare that she was being chased by a wolf; no matter how fast she ran, she could feel it getting ever closer, bearing down on her. She woke with a terrified start.
And the next night, she had the same nightmare.
Then again. And again. Night after night. Month after month.
Eventually there came a night when, in the familiar nightmare, the woman stopped running, turned around and screamed at the wolf, “WHY ARE YOU CHASING ME?”
And the wolf said, “I dunno. It’s your dream.”
I love this story.
I love it because it’s funny. But also because it does what all good stories do – goes straight to that mysterious place of collective knowing.
I imagine that you felt something true about that story even before you could explain what it was. It just felt instinctively…familiar somehow.
Which begs the question, do you know what you’re currently running away from? What are you trying to stay one step ahead of in your own life?
· Your Imposter?
· Your lack of confidence?
· Your jealousy at the success of your peers?
· Your loneliness?
· Your fear of failure?
What do you find so unacceptable about yourself that you can’t even bring yourself to think about it, right now, in the privacy of your own brain?
And – most importantly – how might it be to turn and face whatever that is, and ask it why it’s hounding you?
(Spoiler alert: it will be a mahoosive relief.)
The wolves you’re running from are all parts of your own psyche; so wherever you go, there they are. But on the plus side, when you turn and face them, you’ll see that they’re waiting for you to change the story. Because it’s your life, your dream, after all.
And when we stop running FROM, we have way more energy to run TOWARDS; our joy, goals, dreams and ambitions.
If this resonates with you, somewhere deep in the crevices of your gut instinct, then I’d love to chat and see if I can support you in going on that journey