The Power of Deep Work: Facing What You’ve Been Avoiding
Photo: Li Yang
Most people avoid the parts of themselves they don’t like.
They gloss over the pain, bury the trauma, and pretend like the messy, dark corners of their minds don’t exist. It’s easier to stay on the surface and call it growth, but that’s not how real healing happens. If you’re serious about being free, you’ve got to be willing to get involved with the parts of yourself that you’d rather ignore.
This isn’t a process of sitting around and thinking happy thoughts. It’s about confronting the things inside you that you don’t want to look at—the anger, the shame, the fear. These aren’t just abstract ideas; they’re patterns of behavior that are shaping your life every single day. You can’t just move past them by pretending they’re not there. They’ll keep running the show until you drag them out of the shadows and face them head-on.
The real work, the hard work, is diving into these places within yourself. It’s uncomfortable, it’s messy, and it’s the only way forward. Most people spend their whole lives running from their pain, thinking they can outrun it. But the truth is, you can’t move forward until you’re willing to face what’s been buried. When you finally do, that’s when the chains start to break. That’s where real growth begins.
This is what depth psychology is all about—going beneath the surface, peeling back the layers, and confronting the aspects of yourself you’ve been avoiding. It’s not about perfection; it’s about wholeness. You’re never going to get rid of the parts of yourself you don’t like, but you can integrate them. When you stop running from them, you take back the power they’ve had over you.
In Your Mind Is a Prison, I talk about how these mental traps keep you locked in cycles of fear, avoidance, and self-sabotage. The deep work is about breaking free from that. It’s about recognizing the prison you’ve built in your own mind and tearing it down, piece by piece. This isn’t easy, but it’s the only way to unlock the clarity and freedom that’s waiting for you on the other side.
Stop avoiding what’s uncomfortable. Dive into the depths of your own mind, face the things you don’t want to, and start doing the real work. Only then will you be able to break free from the patterns that have been holding you back, and finally start living.
Check out my Book: Your Mind Is A Prison - A Guide To Living
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Excellent. Very helpful