At some point in life, someone tells us to “get over yourself.” My mom did often, and maybe that might explain a few things?

Usually, it’s not delivered gently.
It tends to arrive with a bit of an edge.

The phrase can sound like an instruction to shrink… to stop wanting or desiring things… to give up our ambitions and quietly sit in the corner while the enlightened people sip herbal tea and nod knowingly.

But that’s not what it means at all.

Getting over ourselves doesn’t mean we stop doing what we want.

It means we stop taking the voice in our head quite so seriously when it tries to talk us out of doing what we want.

Because that voice can be very persuasive.

“Who do you think you are?”
“That will never work.”
“People will judge you.”
“You’re too late.”
“You’re too old.”
“You’re too something.”

It’s amazing how many dreams have been cancelled by a committee meeting held entirely inside someone’s own head.

If you’ve never noticed this internal committee before, pay attention sometime.
It’s fascinating.

One part of your mind proposes doing something interesting, meaningful, maybe even exciting… and immediately another part stands up with a stack of imaginary research explaining why it’s a terrible idea.

The confidence department gets overruled by the risk management team, the historical trauma division weighs in, and somewhere in the back, a very nervous intern is yelling, “What if people think we’re weird?”

No wonder progress sometimes takes a while.

Getting over ourselves is simply realizing that the committee is not in charge.

It’s seeing that a lot of what we think of as “me” is just a running commentary produced by Thought. Some of it is helpful. Some of it… not so much. Most of it.

When we see that clearly, something interesting happens.

We become freer to do the things we genuinely feel drawn toward.

Write the book.
Start the project.
Have the conversation.
Take the trip.
Build the thing.
Serve in the way that feels meaningful.

Ironically, getting over ourselves doesn’t make life smaller.

It makes life bigger.

Because once we stop arguing with the noise in our head, we often discover something quieter underneath it.

Curiosity.
Creativity.
Wisdom.
A sense of play.

And from that place, we can do what we want much more easily.

Not because we forced ourselves.

But because the imaginary barriers quietly disappeared.

So if you’ve been worried that “getting over yourself” means giving up your dreams, relax.

It usually means the exact opposite.

It just means the drama department in your head no longer runs the company.

And that, as it turns out, frees up an awful lot of time.

That’s been my experience.

Much love,