I only noticed it when I was trying on new shoes: I was clamping down on my left toes. At first, I thought it was something about the shoes.
“I can’t buy these shoes,” I thought. “They’re making me tense up my toes on my left foot.”
(We’ll always look for an outside source to blame for our actions… even though it’s always, always an inside job.)
Then I realized I was clamping down the smallest three toes on my left foot in my old shoes… and almost all the time. I was putting all the tension and anxiety of my life into my toes.
It wasn’t my shoes. It was me.
Now, in a way, this is genius of me. All the tension and anxiety in my life and body, stored neatly in my left three toes… so I didn’t have to look at it, handle it, even admit it was there! I’m FINE!!
But I’ve finally asked myself: why do I need to store tension and anxiety anywhere? Why don’t I accept it, have compassion for it, allow it to flow out of me – you know, like I tell every client every week to do with their challenging emotions?
Well, because I didn’t know it was there. Our bodies are way ahead of our thoughts most of the time. Our bodies are like “That feeling is big, too big. Let me just put it way out of reach, right over here, way deep inside. There. All done.”
So that’s how we walk around carrying heavy, dense, knotted, black hole-sized burdens in our bodies: grief in our lungs. Resentment in our kidneys. Fear in our stomachs. Overwhelm and hopelessness in our shoulders or necks lower backs.
And, for some of us funny little souls, stress in our left little toes.
What have my left toes taught me? That I need and deserve more self-compassion and more fun in my life. For years, my answer to “What do you like to do for fun?” has been “I like to go for walks and read historical fiction.” Can you see what a laugh riot I am?!
I’m ready. I’m open for self-compassion and fun.
What about you? What is your body storing? What is your body asking you to learn? And are you ready to look at it and make a few changes?
It won’t be too hard. It will actually be easier. Let me know if you need a little help figuring it out!
And if part of what your body is holding is the weight of over-responsibility, people-pleasing, or exhaustion from saying yes when you want to say no… I’d love to invite you to schedule a free Get Unstuck Zoom call.
I’d love for you to help you. Let’s release the tension—not just in your toes, but everywhere else you’ve been holding too much for too long.