It’s Not Hard. It’s New.

The pose I avoided taught me one of my biggest mindset shifts yet.

I had this realization on my yoga mat, during a class I almost didn’t show up for.

I almost didn’t show up for this class. But I did. And everything changed from there.

The pose was one I’d seen before. I’d been in class when it was introduced and thought, “No way I could do that.” I didn’t even try. Instead, I watched and told myself all the reasons why I couldn’t:

It’ll hurt my chest.

It’ll hurt my back.

My body isn’t built for that.

As the instructor calmly counted out, “Hold for three breaths… now six…” I sat in stillness while the rest of the class moved through it, grunting, breathing heavily, wobbling. And I stayed right where I was.

But something shifted the next time it came up. I decided not to count myself out before I even tried.

I adjusted.

I listened to my body.

I breathed through the discomfort.

And I did it.

That’s when the thought came in clearly:

This isn’t hard. It’s new. And new doesn’t mean hard. I’ll get better at it.

Stag Locust Pose (Salabhasana Variation)—my reminder that growth starts when we stop sitting it out.

Since then, I’ve done the pose every time Roxanne includes it in class. It’s now one of my favorites.

And the lesson didn’t stay on the mat. I’ve started applying it to everything I used to label as “too hard” without even realizing it. The new roles I’m exploring, the shifts I’m making in my business, even the way I show up publicly.

We talk ourselves out of so much before we even begin.

But sometimes, all it takes is trying once to realize…

It’s not hard. It’s just unfamiliar.

And unfamiliar is where growth lives.

**Journal Prompt:**

*What’s something I’ve been calling hard—but is actually just* new *to me?*

*What would shift if I gave myself permission to be a beginner?*