Naked.

When we are stripped bare, we are at our most vulnerable. Exposed, warts and all, to friends, family and colleagues. Moving into your potential can feel like walking down Oxford Street, naked, and not not in good way.

And then comes the growing discomfort of walking on less familiar paths. This can stop many a brave person in their tracks.

Sometimes we need to hide. Sometimes we need to rest. Sometimes we need to march on, facing the fear with a fake smile that barely disguises the trembling inside.

It’s common to find the following themes that touch on this in personal development books and blogs:

Vulnerability

Out of your comfort zone

Growth mindset

Feel the fear

And we can all buy into what they are calling us to do, in our minds. But how many of us really embrace the deeply uncomfortable suffering that we feel, in our hearts.

“In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer”– Albert Camus

The opening of the heart and the emergence of our full potential is an emotional process. You can’t learn it from a book or a teacher – although obviously they can offer their own insights. You can only grow through the experience and transformational affect of how you fully engage with the reality of your own feelings, as much as you do with your thoughts.

And that, for many, is a very strange place to find yourself. Maybe the most unknown path for you to follow is closer than you think.

Now, get naked. But if you’re stopped by a policeman on Oxford Street, please don’t mention reading this.