As I was listening to a podcast this week with Kara Loewentheil, she responded to a question about humility, and made a simple comment that just blew my mind.
The opposite of humility is hierarchy.
Many of us have been trained to believe that the opposite of humility is arrogance or a superiority to others. Unfortunately, too many times and especially as women, we translate humility into the need to feel inferior or inadequate. But true humility exists in a state of no hierarchy. A belief that we AND others are 100% whole and worthy as we are.
This simple phrase opens the door to mental freedom.
Without hierarchy, there would be no imposter syndrome. Humility would mean simply having a belief that you are 100% worthy of the position you are in, embracing the experience with all its failures and celebrations.
Without hierarchy, there would be no living in constant comparison. Humility would mean accepting that everyone is exactly where they are meant to be in order to learn what they need to in any given moment.
Without hierarchy, the drama surrounding the pressure to “get the job done” is released because of your knowledge that your worth is not defined by accomplishment.
How can you start to recognize areas of your life where you place a hierarchy on the worthiness of yourself and others? Realize this is completely natural and nothing you need to beat yourself up about. It’s simply the way we were conditioned. The key is starting to become aware of it, move through the natural tendency to resist changing and get curious about when it comes up and why, then start to exercise authority on whether you choose to continue with that line of thinking or not.