- Part of my work as a Thrive Coach is helping clients become aware of their limiting beliefs so that we can work together to change them. As the name suggests, a limiting belief is one that is holding you back in life. Sometimes, clients have maintained that unhelpful belief for so long, they don’t realise it is just a belief and not reality.
The point when a client becomes aware of a limiting belief and starts to break it down, is a huge turning point in their journey to living the life they want to live. It is a very powerful shift in the way they view and process experiences and witnessing a client making that shift is one of my favourite parts of the work I do. It’s when both the client and I can see the real person emerging from the belief they’ve been wrapped up in, often for a very long time.
During the course of our sessions together, one of the limiting beliefs that clients sometimes become aware of, is the belief that the symptom somehow defines them. It’s as if they have started to believe that they ARE the anxiety/depression/fear/panic, that the symptom is somehow their identity.
I think it is incredibly honest and courageous when a client opens up to me about this. They wonder who they will be without the anxiety or depression. Although the symptom feels uncomfortable, it is in a strange way familiar. Clients have said that the symptom has been such a large part of their life, dominating their thoughts and affecting their relationships, daily interactions and activities, that they are almost scared to overcome it. Some have described it as if they will be losing a friend who treats them badly but at least is there constantly.
This is where the Thrive Programme really empowers people. The aim isn’t to help clients live with the symptom. Nor is it to support them in overcoming it as an end point. It is about them developing the psychological foundations to thrive. To fully embrace life. To feel able to manage their thoughts and emotions. To be resilient. To feel permanently changed. Instead of wondering who they will be without the anxiety/depression/fear/panic, they bloom into the person that they want to be. If you are wondering who you will be without anxiety/depression/fear/panic, book a free initial consultation with me and take the first step to becoming the thriving you.