My Top 3 Struggles as a Feminine Entrepreneur
And How I navigate through them with compassion and unwavering Self Love
As a Feminine Entrepreneur, I admit I struggle profoundly in balancing my drive to succeed with my overall well-being, my relationships, and relishing joy and pleasure in life.
I can feel so alone in my journey. I can easily sink into the paralyzing fear that I’m not doing enough, I don’t want it enough, or worse – that this is just too hard and I don’t have what it takes.
I strongly believe in pulling the curtain back on the facades we use to camouflage the very painful struggles of choosing the life of a Visionary, a Leader, and a Change Maker.
Conversations like these are crucial because we live in a world in which authentic connection and vulnerability are in short supply.
I know how easy it is to fool myself into thinking that what I see on social media or read in emails is the whole truth. When I buy into the hype without the depth, I suffer with feeling like a fraud, a mess, and a failure.
So, in the spirit of the whole truth, I want to share with you:
Top 3 Things I struggle with as a Feminine Entrepreneur
Plus How I navigate through them with compassion and unwavering self love.
1. Resistance
We toss the word Resistance around in the coaching, therapeutic, spiritual, and wellness fields. But what does that word mean, exactly?
I like this definition because it refers to energy and I love working with energy!
Resistance is the opposition that a substance offers to the flow of electric current.
Everything is energy! Including my desires, my goals, and my dreams.
Resistance – the force that blocks my path when I set out to realize my big vision is a huge struggle for me! As soon as I focus my energy toward my goal, I bump up against something in me that opposes my flow toward that goal.
This might look like fear and self doubt. The confidence I feel when I’m dreaming up my big ideas and visions quickly dissolves when it’s time to get down to the nuts and bolts of figuring it all out and doing the work.
Suddenly I ruminate on whether or not my work is good enough, I agonize over making the right decision, and I battle those familiar demons (I don’t belong, I’m not safe, no one will love me, etc.).
Resistance often looks like procrastination and motivation paralysis. I sit down to my computer and I can’t seem to get myself to focus on that email campaign or blog I was going to write.
I tell myself I’ll reach out to potential clients and networks tomorrow. I busy myself with everything under the sun that feels important but that never actually moves me closer to my goals.
2. Flow
Flow is the new buzz word, especially with Feminine Entrepreneurs. Why is that?
Hyper-masculinized, patriarchal directives and coaching that instructs you to do whatever it takes to succeed buys into a myth we keep repeating about highly driven people – that we’re machines who never stop working.
In fact, pushing, striving, and driving at the expense of relationships, health, and sanity seems to be a badge of honor and the ultimate status symbol for a culture that glorifies busy.
I reject that path. The cost is much too high for me. I’m not willing to sacrifice my well-being, my relationships, or my connection to pleasure. What’s it all for anyway?
My daily discipline is to stay aligned with my own intuition and values while figuring out how to be successful in a patriarchal, capitalist economy that over-values productivity.
The cult of busy is seductive and the laundry list of tasks is endless.
I admit I struggle with turning work off, keeping boundaries around my self care, and prioritizing play/creative time or even time to do nothing.
3. Presence
My dad was a driven entrepreneur who worked all the time. He was rarely home, took little time or care for his health and well-being, and had difficulty truly connected with people outside of work.
I’ve always known that I did not want, nor could I sustain that kind of life. Frankly, I don’t think anyone can.
Although my relationships are very important to me, I often struggle to be present with my daughter, my partner, my friends, and myself – especially when I’m tangled up in my to-do list or worries about the business.
Any one of these challenges can shut me down. So how do I navigate through them with compassion and unconditional love for myself?
I nurture, tend, draw from a relationship with my dreams.
Dreams are multi-layered. They contain an endless and morphic gradations of meaning, based on the lens through which we choose to view them.
What questions sit with me in Waking Life?
What issues are at the forefront of my heartmind?
What am I missing or refusing to see or accept?
My dreams tell me what I’m resisting and how to move through it.
My dreams remind me what’s important to me.
My dreams offer creative solutions and intuitive nudges that help me choose systems and create methods that work for me.
And my dreams bring me the gift of healing.
Imagine being able to simply let go or release anger or resentment you’ve been carrying around for years because you allowed your dreams to be an active part of your life.
Imagine your heart opening to love and accept a part of you that’s been shamed and shunned since you were a kid.
Imagine waking up one morning no longer afraid of being judged, disappointing people, or whether or not you’re doing it right.
Without effort.
Easily.
Literally overnight.