Reinvention Isn’t Easy: The Barriers That Hold Us Back

Right now, there must be many people contemplating that all-important word of the last decade: reinvention. I’m a psychotherapist who has seen firsthand how changing your career and reworking your sense of self can create a better, healthier life, whether you’re in your twenties or your sixties.

Reinvention is sometimes a necessity and sometimes a real conscious choice, but it brings you to look at your real self directly in the eye and face your truth. Good or bad, it is certainly a reality for many of us in life. 

3 Common Barriers on the Road to Reinvention

But before you enter that “land of becoming” and set out on the road to reinvention, let’s take a look at some of the barriers that might make it difficult.

1. Money Attitude

First, money. My personal belief is that your money attitude is often just a mirror of how much you value yourself. If you think you’re worth turning things around and investing in yourself, you won’t let money issues stop you.

If, however, you judge yourself by your current net worth–the money you have in the bank and the equity in your home, you are going to stay stuck.

There is no way out of this but to take the risk and move forward. It won’t be easy or pleasant at first, but you might just earn more from a reinvented self that you love than the current profession you’re dragging around like a dead corpse chained to your ankle. 

2. No Perfect Self

The second is perfectionism. Perfectionism is not the kind of thinking that forces you to cross every T, fold every corner, and reorder every drawer and closet.

I’m referring to the voice inside your head that constantly says that you’re not enough. Never good enough, never smart enough, never attractive enough, or never successful enough.

This voice keeps people standing in place, fretting over their past mistakes and looking at their personal limitations instead of the limitations of their situations, and moving on to something better.

3. Failure is Always an Option

This brings us to the third barrier, which is fear of failure. It’s the cousin of perfectionism, which tells you that you must never take a risk because you can never make a mistake.

So, here’s the mind shift: If you’re not trying new things and making mistakes, you are doing something wrong. That’s the mistake you’re making. Not failing is not learning or growing. If you’re afraid of failing, then reinvention is not going to happen. It will feel just too vulnerable.

If you can tell yourself, Oprah once said, “There is no such thing as failure, “meaning that it’s all just living. If you can handle failure, you are much better able to handle the ups and downs of reinvention.

How Therapy Can Support Reinvention

What is the proven route to successful reinvention? There is none. It’s as individual as personality itself. Working with a trusted therapist is a good way to “individualize” the process by identifying your barriers and formulating a coherent strategy.

I’m a therapist who herself had a serious reinvention. Explore how psychodynamic psychotherapy combined with cognitive behavioral therapy can be a powerful tool toward reinventing yourself.

Let’s connect through a free consultation call and plan the next steps together.