Curb your enthusiasm

Hello Dear Reader, how are you today? My guess is that you may be confused by the title of this post, well strap in and all will be revealed! This post does contain swearing so if you don't like that then this post may not be for you. Go on though, you know you want to... a little swear word won't hurt you in this context, I promise :)

Curb your enthusiasm. What a weird phrase. "Be less excited, calm down." Why? Why would anyone feel the need to say that to someone in the context of something they are passionate about?

I remember, very clearly, a time when I was in a PE lesson, we were doing some sprinting drills and my teacher said "curb you enthusiasm". I was really confused because I was having a great time, winning the majority if not all of the races we were doing and generally enjoying the lesson. After being told that, everything felt a bit flat like the wind had been taken out of the sails of my proverbial boat. I was slower and other people started winning then taking the mick out of me for slowing down.

Looking back on this now, I believe that the teacher was seeing me winning and thought that I was showing off. After she "intervened" everyone else engaged more in the lesson so she probably felt like she'd done a good job of getting everyone involved... everyone except me, who she'd singled out and metaphorically pulled back. Me who was already being bullied at school, enjoyed sport as a release and then was in a situation where a teacher had given ammo to a group of bullies who took great pleasure in shouting shit at me for the rest of the lesson when the teacher was out of earshot.

Do I blame that teacher? At the time I did, right now though, no. Right now I can see her perspective - she wanted class engagement and took the person who was standing out, out of the way so that others could have a go. Is that the right thing to do? Also no. There are other ways of dealing with the situation, give the person standing out an extra challenge maybe, or give them a longer race to run. Or, ask them to work with the people who are struggling to try to pass on some encouragement and enthusiasm. Rather than deflating that person and killing their passion, enhance the passion and energy and redirect it in a way that could benefit other people.

I also remember getting the phrase "Laura would do very well if she learned to curb her enthusiasm" in a school report. Again... what the actual fuck! This child is enthusiastic and engaged and expects more of me in a lesson than anyone else... I know lets destroy the enthusiasm rather than encouraging this child in a direction that will stretch them! Ah well, that was school in the early 2000s, competition was bad, everyone gets a participation trophy and anyone that stands out is brought down to earth and told that they are just as good as anyone else so they shouldn't get too big for their boots.

Fortunately, I kept my enthusiasm. It has got me through some difficult times and allowed me to pursue difficult challenges. My family members have described me as determined and tenacious for as long as I can remember, and that is something I'm proud of. On top of that, now that I've found a sustainable way to manage my energy, rather than pushing myself to burnout all the time, I can use my enthusiasm, passion and drive to help other people.

I have always wanted to help people, I really enjoy watching people develop and supporting them along the way. It's why I'm doing the coaching certification that I'm working on at the moment. Coaching is a brilliant tool to help people uncover their potential and become conciously aware of things that they have under the surface. Whether that is a talent, or a limiting belief to work out and release, bringing the unconcious to conciousness is a powerful way to help people and I absolutely love it.

So I shall not curb my enthusiasm for coaching, nor ever tell other people to curb their enthusiasm or passion. I will use all the enthusiasm I have to help people and get them to discover their potential. If you'd like to find out more about coaching or get in touch if it sounds like it's something that could help you, subscribe and comment and I'll respond to you. I will be looking for coaching clients soon for my certification so if this sounds like something you or someone you know could benefit from then please feel free to get in touch.

I look forward to hearing from you Dear Reader, until next time, I hope you use your own passion and enthusiasm to do something amazing! I'd love to hear about it if you do :D