Why Time Travelling Helps You to Create Unbreakable Belief | Check in No. 7

Hello there,

I am so glad you’re here. If you are reading this then you’re not the kind of human who gives up when stuff gets sticky!

So join me for some time travelling and I’ll meet you back in the present at the end with some cool freebies to help you along your path.

Last week’s newsletter brought in the most new readers so far, which tells me it really landed. It spoke to the physical, emotional, and mental fatigue that can settle in at this time of year. I hope it helped you identify the type of tired you’ve been feeling, so you could begin to plan and take the right kind of rest.

But still, this week, in my client sessions and through your messages and DMs, I’ve heard a recurring thread:

• A lingering heaviness.

• Procrastination. Struggling to actually ‘do the thing.’

• A knowing that this state isn’t serving you, but a fog that just won’t seem to lift.

If that’s where you are right now, this letter is for you.

Something to try this week:
Time travel. Both directions.

Right, grab your time machine and let’s go!

Revisit the past (but don’t stay there!)

Yes, coaching is forward-facing, absolutely. But sometimes, revisiting and acknowledging how far we’ve come is a powerful foundation for movement. In fact, it can be essential.

Because when you remember all the things you once feared but lived through, it builds evidence.
Evidence that you do have the tools, the courage, the resilience to meet whatever comes next.

What we are most afraid of has already happened – in some form. That’s why it lives in the body, not just the mind.

In yoga, we call these imprints samskaras; the emotional residue left by past experiences.
They shape our patterns, our reactions, even our sense of identity.

It may have been a moment of rejection. A time you felt unsafe. An experience that taught you to stay small, stay quiet, avoid any possible negative feedback by staying in the parameters of societal ‘rules’ and expectations.

These stories helped you survive. But they’re not who you are. And they can keep you from expanding and growing.

Samskaras can be softened. New patterns can be formed. New stories can be told.

Often, the first step in that mindset shift is recognising how far you’ve already come.

You already have a track record of getting through the hard things right? Think about it, at least a few of these will apply to you:

• You’ve started school, made friends, walked into new places on your own.

• You’ve left home, navigated independence, figured out how to cope (even when you weren’t sure you could).

• You’ve sat exams, submitted applications, gone to interviews.

• You’ve started jobs, changed jobs, maybe even quit jobs.

• You’ve gone through breakups. Chosen to walk away or had someone walk away from you.

• You’ve experienced the loss or illness of someone you love.

• You’ve had your heart broken. Felt rejected. Had your feelings misunderstood.

• You’ve failed at something. Made a mistake. Been disappointed.

• You’ve struggled financially, emotionally, mentally, and found a way to keep going.

And yet, here you are. Still growing. Still learning. Still trying. Still here.

Revisit the past to help you remember your strength.

But don’t stay there.

Let it remind you who you are and what you’re capable of.

Keep reading for your free letter-writing tool.

Now we’ve been back, hold onto your hat…let’s go forwards.

Time travel to the future

Often in recovery or personal growth work, people are encouraged to connect with their future-self as a way of rewiring neural pathways while forming healthier habits.

But this isn’t always easy.

Firstly, because change is hard, messy, uncomfortable and sometimes feels downright inconvenient. There will be moments during your 12-week (or 12 year!) journey when you’ll want to get off the train you bought a ticket for, and go back to a place that feels familiar. That’s completely normal. In fact, your nervous system often equates familiarity with safety (yep, grrrr... frustrating, right?!). Even if what’s familiar isn’t helpful, it can still feel safer than the unknown.

It’s also tough when you’re feeling stuck or caught in a loop, because that’s when it becomes hardest to hold a clear vision. You can lose sight of what you truly want or where you’re heading. And then comes that sense of hopelessness.

That’s where this question comes in:

So, how do we connect what we want right now with what we ultimately want in the future?

We don’t connect with our future selves. We see that version of ourselves as a different person because we live in the present-in the version of us we know now.

Trying to connect with the concept that ‘It’s me who needs to make sacrifices and go through challenges for this person, also me, who doesn’t exist.’ Temptations are in the present, so these pull us away from our goals and therefore what we want our future self to be.

In the moment, we might just want to curl up on the sofa and watch six episodes of something that helps us escape. And that’s OK sometimes (remember last week’s letter about honouring the right kind of rest for your needs!) But when we’re working towards change, it can really help to anchor our actions to the future they’re shaping.

Ask yourself:
Which version of me am I reinforcing with this choice?
Which future self am I creating by repeating this habit over and over?

What does that look like in real life?