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Releasing inhibitions will maximise your potential

Our inhibitions are our creations, like a bad habit, that we developed and gave it so much importance that we surrendered to it. The good news is that since we made them, we can break them

What does the word inhibition mean? It has been defined as “a feeling that makes one self-conscious and unable to act in a relaxed and natural way”. This leads us to the most crucial question why people have inhibitions in the first place. They were not born with them, like some genetic disease. Inhibitions seem to appear because of our circumstances, the company we keep and the influences around us. Some inhibitions are good, such as the ones that prevent us from killing people we dislike and such other illegal acts. Other inhibitions, like the ones that prevent us from having a good time and truly being our self, are not so great.

Inhibitions are self-sabotaging and make us feel inadequate, and that results in us having low self-esteem. Releasing your inhibitions means letting go of the things that hold you back from saying and doing what you would naturally do if you weren’t thinking about the consequences that flow from it. That is the reason we have such a great time when we are with our childhood friends. As children we were more carefree, had less fears and hence have almost no inhibitions when we are with such friends.

So, what is it that we can do to make us get rid of our inhibitions and live our life to the fullest?

One thing that can certainly help is to do something outside of your comfort zone because that makes one feel confident in all environments. Have you noticed the confidence and adrenalin rush we feel when we do something for the first time? Getting out of our comfort zone increases the feeling of freedom and accomplishment, lowers our inhibitions and increases confidence to handle unknown situations.

It all begins with loving oneself. When you look around the company you keep, do you see people that encourage you or discourage you? Don’t let people pull you down, ridicule you, find faults with you or demean you. It is vital to be around people that bring out the best in you because that encourages you to be comfortable with who you are. Let your loved ones add to your sparkle and not diminish it. Something I did that truly helped me when I met depressing and discouraging people, was to have a mental wall to ward off the negativity. At times we can choose the company we keep and there are times when we have no choice. What is in our control is the ability to process or discard what is coming our way.

Only when we know, can we accept and then act. If you don’t realise what your inhibitions are in the first place, how can you stop them and eventually act on them. Awareness is the key here and action thereafter. We need to be aware of the inhibition and take the steps necessary to conquer it.

Positive affirmations are a great way of challenging negative thoughts. There are so many courses these days that are advocating the benefits of positive affirmations and for very good reason. By frequently repeating them, you start to believe in them, and you can then successfully crush the negative thoughts that come to mind.

Our inhibitions are our creations, like a bad habit, that we developed and gave it so much importance that we surrendered to it. The good news is that since we made them, we can break them.

Go sky diving, dune bashing, break in to dance in front of an audience, get on stage and give the speech of your lifetime. Break the barriers.

In Covid times there are enough restrictions imposed on us (for our good though). Our physical freedom is surely restricted by the rules of social distancing, travel bans and even simple movement outside our homes. Let us at least enjoy the freedom of our mind, heart and spirit to live our life to the fullest in the given circumstances.

So well said by the late American president, Ronald Reagan: “There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect”. One proverb conveys perfectly the message of this writing, separate the wheat from the chaff. When you separate the wheat from the chaff, you decide which things or people are good or necessary, and which are not.

Don’t let anybody tell you that you are inadequate or not good enough. You are unique and life is too short to be wasted on inhibitions.

Shilpa Bhasin Mehra is a legal consultant based in Dubai and the founder of Legal Connect