Like a Duck Without Water: Finding Your Way Home
I recently watched a video clip of rescued ducks that had never seen anything more than drinking water in their lives. They were safe, well-fed, and getting on with things, totally unaware that anything was missing.
When their rescuers attempted to lead them to a lake, it was a wonderful yet heart-wrenching sight. The ducks were frightened, flapping their feathers and running away from the very thing they were made for. To them, the water was completely unfamiliar; they didn’t even know that they could swim. They viewed the lake as a threat because it was outside of their “normal.”
But eventually, one by one, they plonked in. Some jumped out immediately, but others were truly “like a duck to water.” Soon, they were all ducking, diving, and bobbing along. Their bodies instinctively knew what to do. They were embracing a new environment and a new sense of self.
Why We Accept “Normal”
Knowing you are unhappy is one thing, but knowing why and what to do about it is an entirely different matter.
Often, our immediate environment—how we were treated and what we were taught-shapes our internal ‘map.’ We can spend years fitting into other people’s expectations and adopting their beliefs as our own. We accept this as ‘normal’ because, for a long time, it was all we knew.
If your early ‘blueprint’ only showed you a small cup of water, you won’t know that you have the innate capacity for the whole lake. Somewhere at an unconscious level, our nervous system might know that something isn’t ringing true, but without evidence of a different way to be, it remains just a weird sense of incompleteness.
Working With the Gap Between Surviving and Thriving
Much like those ducks, we often flee from the very changes that would help us flourish. This is a survival response, the body trying to keep us safe by sticking to what it knows.
In our work together, we work in the gap between your current survival strategies and your true self. My role isn’t to force you into the water, but to sit alongside you as you look at it. Together, we explore:
- Relationship with Self: Understanding the blueprints that told you “drinking-water-only” was enough.
- Trusting Your Instincts: Helping you realise that, like the ducks, you already have the inner wisdom to navigate your life; you might need someone with you while you learn to trust it.
- Becoming You: Finding the courage to “plonk in” and discover how it feels to be comfortable in your own skin.
If you have a sense that something is missing, or you are tired of simply “getting on with life” while feeling disconnected, we can figure it out together.