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The CC - The Inner Voice; You're so stupid!
The Inner Voice; You're so stupid! “Arggh!” I groaned, frantically searching “Where did I put that pass?” I blurted out loud. But no one was listening in the vast sea of travellers and trains. I was rummaging through my bags for my 10-day Eurail train pass that I had just used for the first time. Perched on a stool having a quick breakfast in the enormous Milano Centrale train station in Italy, I muttered, “I just pulled it out of this pouch to have it ready. But where did I put it?” I left my coffee and croissant, grabbed my 3 bags, and rushed over to the agent that had just issued my ticket to Frankfurt. “Help me…I lost my Eurail pass, maybe it was stolen?” I tried to keep my English simple; my Italian was hopeless. He pointed down the hallway, “You need police station … over there.” I took a couple wrong turns, feeling like the station was swallowing me; the noise, the rushing travelers, the indifference. Finally that afternoon, I had to buy a new pass. I left Milan, two trains later. Deflated, and defeated, I reflected on the morning events: If I had not lost my 10-Day Pass; No need for the police; No waiting in long lineups; No inner voice saying, “You’re so stupid.” The morning trauma in the Milano train station is now in the distant past. But that self-critic is still here, and it’s always at its worst when I’m travelling. I still get an intensely painful feeling that I’ve lost something, or I'll mess up, if I am not super careful. Here are some ideas I’ve found useful for lessening my internal reproach.
OK, over to you: What have you lost or messed up? What do you do when your thoughts incriminate you? I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn or Facebook. See you next week, Grayson Did someone forward you this email? Get weekly reflections straight to your inbox by subscribing to The Compassionate Competitor. Want to share this issue via text, social media, or email? Just copy and paste this link: [ARCHIVE URL GOES HERE] |
Grayson Bain
Join us if you're yearning for business insights peppered with adventure, humanity, and a dash of humility. It’s more than success; it’s about significance.
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