By Leo Babauta

One of the things that hold a lot of people back is that we don’t like to feel shaky — it’s the feeling when you’re just learning something and you’re not good at it, or you’re going through a life transition and you don’t feel like you’re on solid ground.

We don’t like the feeling of being shaky — and so we try to solidify things. One way we solidify is by quitting: it’s too hard. Another is that we try to learn as much as possible, intellectually, so that when we try something we won’t feel shaky (though that doesn’t work). Or we try to learn in private until we’re good at it, before showing others that we’re super competent at the skill.

These are just some of the possible approaches, when we’re feeling shaky, but none are helpful. They keep us out of the learning or transition period, or rob us of the richness of the learning and growing.

What if we could just give ourselves permission to feel shaky? We might be able to relax a bit, and be curious about what it’s like. We could learn in public and stumble a bit, deepening and accelerating our learning (by getting feedback from others, for example). We can grow in the midst of the life transition we’re in, without needing to know exactly what we’re doing or doing everything exactly right.

It can be liberating. But also shaky. You might look for the place you’re feeling shaky, and just give yourself permission to feel that way.