Yes, a safety net keeps us safe when things go wrong, but more importantly, just knowing we’re supported makes a huge difference in the way we live, work, and create!

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There’s a little nook in my house

Two walls facing each other. The gap is just wide enough for one person to comfortably stand in the middle, or two people if they want to snuggle.

It’s just before a door. So, if you close the door, you basically have this supported place, one door behind you and two walls on either side. I like small spaces a lot. Whatever the opposite of claustrophobia is, I have that. Silent, cozy, tiny spaces.

I have to pass the nook to go in and out of that door. So, whenever I’m standing there…

I’m overcome by this desire to do the tree pose, Vrikshaasana

So, I stand there, and I stand on one foot, put up the other foot, you know, up crosswise on to my other thigh. And then I put both my hands up in the Namaste position, and lift them high up above my head.

I used to do yoga a couple of decades ago, long before it became a done thing, in thing, cool thing. Before there were all these yoga teacher training programs. There were very few teachers who studied it in the traditional method, and they’d take classes in an un-fancy way, very simple, basic way.

I loved those classes

Every evening at 6, I’d go to this place. Right on the roof of an old hotel there’s a covered room, and our yoga teacher had rented that place. It had glass windows all around. So, you had a beautiful view of the city, the surrounding area, as you stood there doing yoga.

We didn’t even have yoga mats. We’d carry these old traditional mats to the class, spread them out on the floor, do yoga on them. It was an old room with peeling paint, a simple unused place, and it felt so good to just focus, breathe, go through the poses there.

After a while, I stopped practicing though

The classes stopped, and I had to travel out of the city for a couple of years. While I was away, initially, I’d practice once in a while. And then, you know, laziness, life, whatever you like, got the better of me, and I lost track of my practice. It dwindled away.

Oh, by the way, this is The Feel Good Factor. I’m Susmitha Veganosaurus. If you’re here for the first time, welcome! Good to have you here. If you like what I share on this podcast, then you’re going to love my free newsletter, The Feel Good Tribe. It’s full of stories, mostly entertaining ones, but yeah, sometimes, they have a tip or an inspiring message.

Go here and sign up. You’ll get a confirmation email. You need to hit confirm. And then you’ll be subscribed and get a welcome email. Read it, reply to it. I’d love to get to know you!

Anyway, moving on…

During those yoga sessions, my flexibility, my balance, all of that had been great

And also, a couple of decades ago, I was much younger. That must’ve helped. Haha But because I stopped practicing, slowly my ability to balance went away.

So now, whenever I do the tree pose, I’m not able to hold my balance as easily. I tilt a bit. I’m not able to do it as well as I used to. It’s not as steady and firm as it used to be.

But whenever I do it in this little nook in my house…oh wow, you’d think I do tree pose all the time! You wouldn’t believe how solid and steady I am!

That’s because I know I won’t fall over!

I know there are these two walls on either side and the door at the back to support me. Because I’m not afraid of falling over, my balance is naturally so much better.

That fear isn’t there anymore. This is a psychological thing, right? Purely psychological. But it happens. It’s true. It actually makes an impact.

This is what having a safety net, a support system does to you

Whatever you want to start…like say you want to start a business, then make sure you have a safety net, a rainy day fund, a support system around you. Don’t start without that.

Or you want to start a creative project? Have a setup, have this time when nobody’s going to disturb you. Set things up in a specific way. Anything you do, there’s a world of difference in the way you do it when you have a safety net, and when you don’t. When you know you have support, and when you don’t.

Even in circuses and stuff, people who’re doing all these trapeze and other shows, you see there’s a net below for them to be safe. And if they don’t have a net, it’s kind of stupid, right? Even if you think, I’m not going to fall anyway.

Don’t have overconfidence, just have a safety system

It’s the same when we’re learning to skate. There was this time when I was rollerblading, learning to rollerblade, and I made sure that every time I’d wear my knee protectors, elbow protectors, wrist protectors, helmet, all of that.

And because I put it all on, I wouldn’t be afraid to fall. I could do it in a much better way. I learned faster because of that. Even after I’d learned how to rollerblade, I never stopped wearing all this safety gear.

Here’s the thing about safety gear, safety nets. They exist not just because something might go wrong. Though, yes, you think it’s there because you’re like, “What if something goes wrong? Therefore, I have this.” Yes, that’s its basic purpose.

But there’s a deeper purpose to it.

Having all these things in place, having a safety net in place, makes you braver

There’s a huge part of your brain, the part which is afraid, you know, the fear centre, whatever that is, always worrying, always stressing. “Oh God, what if something goes wrong? Oh God, what if something goes wrong?”

That part doesn’t even have to be deployed when you know, “If something goes wrong, I’ll be fine.” Huge, huge difference!

I always say this to my consultation clients who take vegan business coaching from me. I always tell them, make sure you have enough funds. When you’re investing in your business, when you’re starting it, make sure you have enough funds for six months to a year, depending on the size of business and your overheads. Have that much kept aside that you do not touch, and then you run your business.

Yes, we all want our businesses to become profitable immediately and pay for itself and all those things. But that’s a dream.

It’s not easy to establish, start, and continue to run a business

It’s very rare to see profitability being hit immediately. So yes, you hope for things to go great, but be prepared for something going wrong. Keep a safety net, a strong foundation ready for yourself.

Same thing with your household, creative project, even at regular work. You need a backup person for you. If something happens to you, somebody else should be able to take over, to be able to run things, even if it’s temporarily. Make sure you have that.

When we had our restaurant, we’d train several guys in the same skill. Like across departments, people would be trained. We’d make everybody an all-rounder to the maximum extent possible, so things are not very dependent on one or two people. There was always a backup.

So, if a person needs to take off, step away for whatever reason, they can do it peacefully. We can be calm about it, because there’s somebody else who can do that work.

So, what parts of your life are you running without any safety nets in place?

See where you can put them into place, so you can do whatever you’re doing, continue to do it with complete peace of mind.

And from that place of calmness and peace of mind, without that fear of things going wrong, you’ll be able to tap into so much creativity, such better solutions for everything. You’ll be able to thrive and grow in a much better way.

So, here’s to you doing your tree pose in a nook that you’ve created for yourself. *smile*

All right, talk to you again next week. Thank you so much for listening. I’m so glad you were here. Again, I’m Susmitha Veganosaurus. This is The Feel Good Factor.

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Susmitha Veganosaurus

“I’m a Spiritual Vegan Multi-Passionate Entrepreneur. I read voraciously, find humour in most things, and believe kindness and authenticity can make this world a happier, loving place.

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Vegan cuisine and holistic business building are my two biggest passions. If you’re looking for guidance with vegan cooking, or want to grow your conscious business with joy and fulfilment, explore ways we can work togetherhere.”

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