A few mornings ago I woke up with Gertrude's mindset. Gertrude is one of my sub-personalities, likened to a Debbie Downer type. You know, that voice in our heads that says “we can’t” even when we can. My friends gave me the Gertrude nickname in my 20’s when I pulled my hip out simply getting out of bed. And the name stuck. Now I refer to Gertrude as the part of me that’s full of fear.
On this particular morning the thoughts were full of fear about running out of energy and not being able to hold it all together in my business. I have some expansive biz plans this year and so of course Gert came through to pay her respects to my boss babe vibes.
But because I’ve been doing my mindset work for a while now, I knew that the fears she was serving up were merely impossible, they’d truly defy gravity. And so a negotiation with Gertrude had to take place.
Most days I operate in a state of universal trust and stay committed to myself and my goals. But every now and then I have those days where I just want to crawl into a hole and say eff it. And it’s on THOSE DAYS that I know it’s impossible for me to throw my big dreams out the window entirely because of the support I’ve welcomed into my life.
Gertrude hates logic, so I decided to write down all the support that I have in my biz. And the outcome was something like what you see below.
From my biz team: my virtual assistant, my online biz manager, my designer, to my biz coaching all stars @julia wells @julia bernard thompson @amanda hanson. To my physical, emotional, mental wellbeing support team: my tantra coach @andreja bourke,my body worker, my therapist, my community of VITA sibs. And not to mention my endlessly supportive partner, family and my friends. No one here is going to let me fall through the cracks on the days when I want to crawl into a hole.
One of my dear sisters always points me to the back of @mamagena’s book to the Acknowledgements section. It’s like 10 pages long, and it serves as a reminder that while we CAN try to go at it alone, it’s so much more fun in good company, and its such a deeper and juicer journey in the right hands of leaders you trust.
And this practice was just what Gertrude needed to feel safe and supported. Tell me, do you have an inner gertrude? How do you negotiate with this part of you? And feel free to steal this practice.