E18. It's Maladaptive to Be Gentle but I Don't Care, I'm Gonna Be Me Anyway!

Do you have something about yourself that you've always felt you need to grow out of? For me, it's my gentleness. I've always been too soft for this world, too sensitive. Or to put it another way, I've always believed that I need to toughen up - and that this would/should happen as I matured. Except it didn't. I just got better at repressing and hiding my gentle soul. Then one day I decided I'm not going to do that anymore! As you listen to my story of "coming out" about this "undesirable" personality trait, think about the parts of yourself you've always been taught are undesirable. What would happen if you leaned into them instead of trying to avoid, repress, or change them? You'll hear what happened for me (hint: I started living in integrity with myself, which made my life and what I should do with it a lot clearer), and if you're also an HSP and gentle soul type (I explain the difference), this episode will help you root out any residual shame you may be holding onto because of those traits.  Sign up for my newsletter to get your free Are You an Experimental Type quiz+information packet!This episode's accompanying blog post can be found here.Here is the article on how the most socially successful teens combine kindness with aggression.Information about the study on baboon social hierarchy and the anxiety and depression found in low-status baboons can be found here.