Who's in Our Corner?
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I had no idea how many lessons I would learn when I made the choice to work with a personal trainer!
Every week, I showed up ready to learn the next exercise that would help me gain strength in my physical body. Some exercises were fun to do, and others…well, let’s just say it took weeks before I could do them without some kind of cheat involved.
My trainer explained that cheating happens when other parts of the body step in to do the work instead of allowing the muscles we’re trying to strengthen to do their job.
For example, when lifting a weighted bar, I was initially using my back and neck muscles instead of allowing my shoulder muscles to do the work.
I was learning to connect with parts of my physical body in ways I’d never expected.
And then I began to recognize something even more interesting.
Just as I was learning to recognize when the wrong muscles were doing the work, I started to see how this same idea could apply to other areas of my life.
What if we do something similar in our emotional and mental worlds?
What if we look outside ourselves for reassurance, approval, or confirmation when there’s an opportunity to develop something within ourselves instead?
We might look to others to tell us we're doing okay. We might wait for someone to recognize our accomplishments before we allow ourselves to feel good about them. We might even question our own worth when someone else doesn't see it.
Could we be allowing something outside ourselves to do work that we're ready to learn to do within?
Those new connections opened the door to opportunities to strengthen the way I relate to myself, too.
And that's where things started to change.
I've grown to a place where I now have the presence to champion myself. I've learned to put this newfound me in my own corner, allowing me to move through life in a more empowering way.
To champion ourselves is very different from proving ourselves.
Proving ourselves often has us looking outside for approval, recognition, or confirmation that we're good enough.
Championing ourselves invites us to look within and recognize that we can stand beside ourselves, regardless of what's happening around us.
What might that look like?
Speaking up for ourselves without needing everyone to agree.
Acknowledging our accomplishments instead of waiting for someone else to notice.
Trusting what we know without constantly looking for outside validation.
Giving ourselves permission to try, change direction, or take up space.
Recognizing our strengths instead of automatically focusing on what we think we're doing wrong.
Standing beside ourselves when something doesn't work out.
Celebrating our progress, even when nobody else sees it.
And perhaps most importantly, not abandoning ourselves because someone else doesn't see our value.
Championing ourselves isn't necessarily about becoming our own cheerleader.
Maybe we don't need the “You're amazing! You can do anything!” kind of cheers.
Maybe it's something much quieter and more meaningful.
It's about becoming our own advocate.
It's about being willing to see and hear ourselves. To recognize what matters to us and what doesn't. To understand what we need and then figure out how we're going to keep moving forward.
We don't always need someone else to tell us we're doing okay.
Sometimes, we need to learn how to recognize that for ourselves.
And how do we begin?
Through awareness.
We start by noticing what's happening, catching familiar patterns, questioning our reactions, and bringing what we learn into how we live.
We begin to recognize when we're looking outside for something that needs to be developed within. Perhaps we're second-guessing a decision, waiting for permission, or allowing someone else's opinion to determine how we feel about our worth.
Instead of criticizing what we discover, we can become curious about it.
What are we experiencing? What matters to us? What might help us move forward differently?
That's awareness in action.
So, here's a question worth asking:
If nobody else is championing us right now, how are we treating ourselves?
Are we being critical?
Second-guessing our decisions?
Waiting for permission?
Comparing our journey to someone else's?
Or are we standing in our own corner, saying: “Okay. I'm here. Let's keep going.”
We may not always receive the support or encouragement we'd like from others. But we can learn to stop making their recognition a requirement for recognizing our own value.
So, who's in our corner?
The answer doesn't have to be everyone.
But the one person we absolutely need in our corner…is ourselves.
Wherever you are on your journey, may you find what works for you…find your own truth…and you’ll always be guided to feel at peace inside.
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