Just Show Up By: Erin Cummings
Have any of you heard the rule “First you have to show up and suck, before you can show up and shine?”
Please for the love of God, do not highlight or write that down. Quick, erase it if you did. This was a rule, a quote, a thing said over and over to me from one of my yoga teachers. And, I totally understand the meaning and where it’s coming from.
The quote helps you realize that you might not be great at something the first time around, and that it takes hard work to get somewhere. The rule I want to break: “showing up and sucking.”
If you know me pretty well, you might know that I don’t want to suck at anything actually. I want to be good at everything, and I am actually good at a lot of things. I love to work hard, I love to challenge myself, and I love to master something and move on. What I don’t love, not being good at something.
Truth: I peel 4 hardboiled eggs each weekday morning for breakfast.
- because it’s easy as far as putting a meal together
- because I need the constant practice of peeling those f*cking eggs.
Egg peeling is my arch nemesis, the blister when I wear my favorite heels, the cell phone going off in savasana kinda thing. The problem, I haven’t yet shined with egg peeling. I’ve shined A LOT with what’s going on inside of the egg, but not with the outside. But to save the self deprecation, I know eventually I’ll unlock the egg peeling secret. Just not in these past 300 days…..
New Guideline: “Just show up”
When you ask yourself to “just show up,” there is no expectation. Because if you told me to “show up and suck” you better believe that I’m going to follow that rule so hard, I’m going to not care, to not try, and I won’t even be recognizable while doing so. Asking me to “show up and suck” means you don’t want me to give a shit. Then, creating a whole lesson and rule about it really just doesn’t work for me, which is why I’m finally breaking this rule.
"Show up now, Shine anytime" is really what it should say in my opinion. Think about the people you know that just nail it on the first try. They showed up to SHINE ALREADY, could you imagine if someone asked to them to show up and suck first.
This year for me is all about leaning into mastery. Which means, no more showing up to suck. I need to show up with no expectation. I need to show up now, and be ready to shine anytime. That means the shine could be there, or it could not. But I know for certain, I’m not expecting to show up and suck anymore.
Honestly, a bigger rule to start breaking….applying every inspirational quote to your life. The new guideline: keep what actually lands. I wore that quote for so long, and it just doesn’t fit anymore with me. It’s time to break that rule, and create a new way to be for myself.
Are you living with an old inspirational quote that doesn't fit wit you anymore? Break that old rule, make something new.