Why "Following Your Bliss" Doesn't Cut it for Next-Level Business

Yup - I'm here debunking another buzz-phrase this week…

 Have you noticed how certain phrases and ideas leak their way into the collective and get readily adopted by the masses? Suddenly you notice specific phrases popping up all over the place…

Yet, frequently, I find people are all too quick to hop on bandwagons without doing any processing of their own. An idea sounds enticing on a surface level and - in true capitalist cultural style (obsessed with external appearances resulting in shallow ideologies) - it becomes a buzzword on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

If you know me, you’ll know I love to debunk these things ;-)

Why? 

Because sometimes they’re actually more harmful than helpful. 

If we take the time to understand how they relate to our human psyche, the business journey, the operational systems of society… and life in general, we can be much more intentional about the ideas we adopt as truth, and the ones we give a big, fat “No thanks” to…

The phrase I’m picking out this week?

“Follow your bliss”

This catch-phrase that gets batted about in the wellness/soulprenuer space especially, where everyone and their aunt is telling us to "follow our bliss" as a means to growing a business that feels great.

I get the appeal (I mean, who doesn’t want to spend their days doing purely what feels blissful??!)... but I'm here to drop some hot, hard truths on this one.

The crux of it?

The pursuit of perpetual bliss is not actually serving your next-level of impact and legacy building.

As with most spells (yes, language casts spells), it’s as important to understand the implied as well as the explicitly spoken aspects.

What this phrase implies is that if something DOES NOT feel blissful, it should not be pursued.

Let’s create a little reality check here.

Because as someone who has come into the healing arts, I’m going to guess you’ve been on a healing journey of your own.

And that journey is a journey that never ends. There are always new layers to peel back. The fact is, peeling back those layers is hellishly uncomfortable.

Another fact?

Being in business is one of the most potent paths for personal growth there is. Anything and everything still hanging out in your subconscious WILL be brought to the surface.

Aaaaaallll your shit will come up.

Which is an AMAZING thing, because that’s how we evolve.

AND YET…

It will take a tonne of inner work.

It will take you shining a light into the depths of your shadows and confronting all the aspects of yourself you have yet to embrace.

The truth about that?

IT WILL NOT FEEL BLISSFUL.

Far from it, {{ first_name }}... at times it will instill in you the most powerful fear, will have you doubting yourself and your path, and have you wanting to run for the hills.

I don’t say this to put you off ;-)

On the contrary!

It’s my desire to have you fully resourced to navigate the business journey as a healer and wellness professional, and as a woman-identifying-person in a societal model deliberately orchestrated to keep you playing small.

The thing with the human psyche is this: it LOVES familiarity. Staying in The Familiar Zone (enacting out all the patterns of your past, based on the scripts society handed you at birth) actually feels Pretty. Damn. Blissful.

Why? Because it feels familiar. 

And to our subconscious mind, Familiarity = Safety.

So to go beyond what we’ve already got, to create what we really want (a.k.a a business of impact, and an income from fulfilling our divine calling in life), we’ve got to go beyond what feels familiar and safe.

The Spirit Of Your Business will invite you to step into wild discomfort at times.

The more helpful alternative to “follow your bliss”?

Follow Your Fear.

What scares us most, offers us the greatest potential for creating new outcomes in our businesses and lives. Fear is the signpost toward that which we desire beyond what we’ve already created in our lives.

Often the path forward is the one that brings up the most resistance in us, precisely because it requires us to step into the unknown, to show up a new way, and to grow into who we are becoming, instead of re-enacting the story of who we once were.

As soon as we let go of the notion that everything should feel blissful if it’s to be pursued, you can actually embrace the tricky, sticky, messy, awkward task of growing a business and evolving into the business owner and thought leader you are called to be..

So that you can step up to create that impact as a culture-maker and agent-of-change in your industry.