Let yourself be misunderstood
About this episode
The episode explores the pain of conflict for perfectionists and the importance of self-trust and boundaries when feeling misunderstood.
In this episode, I’m exploring why certain kinds of conflict feel especially painful for perfectionists - especially when someone projects something onto you that doesn’t feel true. I look at what happens when another person’s fear, history or trauma gets laid at your door, and why that can hit so hard if you’re already wired to question yourself, defend yourself, and try to make everything fair, right and repairable. I talk about projection, conflict, inner authority, the urge to explain yourself, and the trap of taking responsibility for something that was never yours to carry. This is really an episode about being misunderstood, losing contact with yourself in the moment, and learning - however imperfectly - to choose dignity, boundaries and self-trust instead. If you’ve ever found yourself caught in a painful dynamic where you wanted desperately to fix things, prove your goodness, or stop someone seeing you through the wrong lens, this one might land. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com
People in this episode
Host: Chris Kenworthy
Topics covered
- conflict
- perfectionism
- projection
- self-trust
- boundaries
- misunderstanding
Keywords
- conflict
- perfectionism
- projection
- self-trust
- boundaries
- misunderstanding
- inner authority
- responsibility
More episodes of Beyond the basement
- Success as a spiritual practice
- That voice saying it’s never good enough…
- Make it up as you go along
- When I said NO to the Alps
- You’ll be OK - healthy masculine presence in a chaotic world
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