You feel like you are about to collapse. But your only focus is to push through.

What’s that you hear from your friends about taking care of yourself? That you have needs, too? Yeah, but…

You just don’t have time to take care of yourself right now. There is so much to do that you aren’t sure you know what that would mean.

Maybe later.

Think about it. Do you regularly check-in with yourself and pay attention to your needs? In the flurry of activity that is your day, do you pause to see what they might be? And then take action that actually attends to them?

Or do you charge forth, ignoring the warning of your inner senses? I call this overriding. To override your natural inclinations is a familiar dynamic. It seems the easier path when outside demands and inside pressures confront you.

Whether it is something as simple as eating food you know your body doesn’t like or a complex situation you shy away from addressing, overriding takes you away from your natural path.

Simply put, it’s just not good for you.

Let’s take a look at what the dictionary says about the word “override.”

Override: to make (something) no longer valid; to have more importance or influence than (something); to ride over or across (Trample); to prevail over (Dominate); to set aside (Annul)

That’s a lot to consider when it comes to how you live your life. How you treat yourself.

Ignoring your inner communication fractures your forward movement. You act without regard for the truth of yourself and others, pushing to meet some behavioral criteria. Giving way to your expectations of  how others will judge your actions leaves you out of the equation. You lose trust in yourself.

Your inner guidance becomes impossible to discern.

What If You Were to Pay Attention?

You learn to override internal signals early in life. It starts first in response to how you expect your environment to be, relative to how you are actually received.

Stay with me here.

Did you feel like your needs were important to those who took care of you? Were your choices recognized and respected?

Over time the behaviors that arise from these relationships become the patterns that regulate the flow of your self-expression: either to throttle or to stream. These patterns get locked into your belief system and become embedded in your way of living.

The result? You sacrifice who you are and what you need to do.

Children Know What They Need

Two-year-old Isaac was his usual engaging, joyful self throughout his Grand-pop’s birthday party. As the soft, soon-to-be-end-of-summer evening moved towards his bedtime, his two middle fingers found their way into his mouth, signaling his quieting down time. Then, in the midst of adult conversation and laughter, his voice came clearly: “Home. Go.”

Isaac knows what he needs. He is a genius at stating his needs and seeing to it that they are known by his caretakers. It’s what two-year-olds are supposed to do: declare themselves. He has no way to override his needs.

He hasn’t yet learned to ignore himself in order to be acceptable to the outside world.

How to Use Your Needs to Build a Sense of Trust

As you pay attention to the signals your body provides, you build a sense of self-ownership. Listen to your inner communication as you take action in life. This creates a purity of energy in action. You bring everything into the equation: you have regard for the situation at hand, feel the truth of what is needed and stand with yourself.

Self-denial gives way to true self-regard and self-worth. Your future—all that is to come to you and all that you are to create—demands that you listen to yourself. @TheBacaJourney (Click to Tweet!)

This is integrity of heart in action.

You are so ready for this, aren’t you?

Laurie Seymour is a mentor/guide, #1 best-selling author, host of the Wisdom Talk Radio podcast and founder of The Baca Journey. She helps women and men who are in the midst of great change to have a direct experience of their inner wisdom, dissolving self-doubt. Then she provides the strategies to sustain their inner connection so that they live the life they know is possible with confidence. Start now with a complimentary exploratory session (virtual tea!). Let’s explore where you’ve been and illuminate where you’re heading.  

Featured image courtesy of Jose Javier Martin Espartosa.