13 Uncomfortable Signs You've 'Leveled Up' As A Person
It won't be long until you're feeling more confident than ever.
Juan Vargas / Pexels Once you’ve begun succeeding at any endeavor, you’ll reach a threshold where you must decide if you’re ready to go to the next level. Most people get comfortable at a certain stage because they don’t want to deal with the emotional purging involved in up-leveling.
When you decide to up-level and go bigger, your life becomes very difficult for a short period of time. But don’t fret, because you’ve been through this before. It won’t be long until you get your stride back. And this time, you’ll be more evolved.
Here are 13 uncomfortable signs you've leveled up as a person
1. Your confidence temporarily drops
If you’ve been successful in the past, and for some reason feel derailed, don’t take that as a sign you’re on the wrong path. Chances are, you’ve up-leveled without realizing it.
When you’ve mastered one set of principles, your life will improve. You’ll become more competent, successful, and confident. Your interactions with other people will be far deeper and more meaningful. Your social group will shift from people solely interested in entertainment to people interested in solving problems and growth.
Photo: Nataliya Vaitkevich / Pexels
However, once you’ve mastered a certain level of principles, you’ll become aware of and exposed to higher-order principles. Immediately, you’ll feel like a child again. You don’t know how these rules work and you’ll begin making mistakes.
As a result, your confidence will drop. People will say, “You don’t seem like yourself.” You’ll wonder if you’ll ever be able to feel that same powerful feeling again. But don’t worry, because you will.
2. Everything feels like it's falling apart
Just before self-help author Napoleon Hill’s success, he went through several months of depression. Despite knowing deep within himself what he was capable of, he became paralyzed and incapable. He was at rock bottom. His life, finances, and relationships began falling apart.
Once the pain became severe enough, a switch flipped and he snapped. In his own words, “I was seized upon by my ‘Other self,’” where he had zero fear, was completely clear, and operated with definiteness of purpose.
With this immediate clarity, he was able to get direct insights about how to achieve his goals. But this acceleration and advancement came after several months of failure, defeat, confusion, and depression. He had leveled up as a person and was facing bigger challenges and responsibilities than he ever had before.
It took a while for Hill to adapt to the higher-order demands of his new situation, but he did. And adapt you will. You haven’t yet risen as high as you’re about to because you’ve never been demanded as much as you are now.
There’s a fear of success lurking within you. You’re not sure if you really want to keep ascending, but you already know within yourself that you will. You’re resolved. It’s done. You know it’s happening. You’re being pulled toward success.
3. You've begun to question yourself and your goals
In the midst of your confusion and lack of performance — as your world is seemingly falling apart — you’ll begin to question yourself and the path you’re on.
First, it's important to understand that your life isn’t really falling apart. It’s better now than it’s ever been before! You’re living at a much higher and more powerful level and are adjusting to what that means.
You’ll rise up. But in the meantime, you’ll question. Clarity will be lacking. You’ll be surrounded by fog. You’ll feel disoriented. It’s during these moments that you’ll need to stick to your core practices for clarity.
You’ll need to deepen your learning and deepen your meditations. Even still, for a period of time, the clarity that once seemed to have an infinite flow will feel dried up. It will be very disheartening. But don't give up hope that things will change soon.
4. You feel alone, even among close friends
Despite developing deeper and better relationships, you’ll start to feel alone as you begin to level up as a person. The alone time you need is necessary; however, at the same time, you need to maintain a connection.
The more successful you become, the more connected you’ll need to be. If you become isolated and stay isolated, you’ll lose your mind. In that case, everything will permanently come crashing down.
So, take the time you need to get clarity. But be even more vulnerable and honest with your “inner circle.” You need them now more than ever. This doesn’t mean you won’t feel alone. You absolutely will feel alone. But just like the lack of confidence, this feeling will shortly go away. You’re growing and being purged.
Photo: Anna Shvets / Pexels
5. You feel numb to what used to inspire you
For a time, you’ll feel totally disconnected from your ambitions. What used to keep you awake at night with excitement now finds you sleeping-in, in an attempt to avoid it. The external pressure feels too much. It’s harder to focus. It’s harder to feel inspired or care.
This numbness isn’t because you don’t care, though. You’ve advanced in understanding. You’ve adapted. Your brain is being forced to deal with more at once. But this is how you advance. This is how you develop deeper mastery and subconscious ability to perform even under the severest of conditions.
Seek the breakthroughs. And, soon enough, the light will come through with more intensity than you’ve ever experienced before.
6. It feels like you're just going through the motions
For a while, it will feel like you’re going through the motions. You’ll have so much momentum that muscle memory will take over. But your heart won’t be in it for a short time.
You’ll still succeed. But it won’t matter to you, because you didn’t push yourself. Succeeding will become boring because you’re not in alignment with your purpose. You’re close, though, to reconnecting.
7. You've begun making uncharacteristic mistakes
With your temporary lack of confidence and stability, you’ll begin dropping balls that were easy to hold before.Small things that were once easy to figuratively lift will feel extremely heavy and difficult.
Initially, you’ll be freaked out by the mistakes you're making, but at the same time, stability and sanity are more important.
To other people, the consequences seem impossibly big. But your mind has already been stretched. You have a much, much bigger vision. Although once big, these mistakes are now small in your mind. Your security is internal, so you know you’ll be able to solve whatever problems may arise.
8. Countless opportunities present themselves as distractions
One of the problems with your situation is that more and more opportunities seem to be presenting themselves. You leveled up for a reason. You learned how to do things other people haven’t discovered. You’ve developed rare and valuable skills.
Your discernment will really need to sharpen if you’re going to make it to the top of this level and up to the next. Most people “sell out” at some point. The opportunities become too compelling and the vision fades into oblivion.
The only opportunities that matter are the ones that deeply resonate. Stay close to people you know deep down really care. There will be plenty of people out there who will tell you what they think you want to hear. They’ll be compelling... and you’ll probably fall for it a time or two.
But don’t buy it this time. The people you decide to maintain on your journey of life will determine your long-term success and inner peace.
9. You've been faced with a crucial decision
One of the biggest uncomfortable signs you've leveled up as a person is facing a crucial decision: will you connect deeper with the "why" that brought you here, or will you give into the pressure? Pressure can burst pipes... or it can make diamonds.
Here's your moment. Your situation is poised. Everything you’ve done has brought you to this point. Now is your time to rise up or let up.
Photo: Bruno Ticianelli / Pexels
In order to reconnect with your purpose, your "why," you’ll need to un-commit to several “opportunities” that were nothing more than appealing distractions. You’ll need to have some hard conversations with the people who matter most. You’ll need to get back to your core. You’ll need to get back to the drawing board.
It’s at this point that you can take all you’ve learned in the past and go bigger than you’ve ever gone before.
10. You feel the need to adjust
When you're leveling up, what got you here won't get you there, so to speak. The biggest fear of growth is the challenge that will be demanded. Now is your time to adjust to the newness. Accept and embrace it.
Newness brings flow to your life. It allows for more angles on the same beautiful experiences, relationships, and meanings you’ve had in the past.
11. You need to recommit
You need to get definitive again — like you were when you first caught fire. You’ll need to get back to the beginner's mind. You’ll need to want it bad enough to get extremely consistent again.
No more lack of consistency. Now is the time to be more consistent than ever before.
12. Growth has come shockingly fast
Prepare for faster growth than you’ve ever experienced. Your momentum is now multiplied and compounded as a result of your journey to leveling up.
You’re no longer alone on your quest. You have lots of teammates and supporters who will help you. Not only that, but something inside of you has expanded beyond the dimensions of what you could create.
Now, you’re creating, building, connecting, and living. It’s quite a sight to see.
13. You enjoy the change
One of the final signs that you're leveling up as a person is that you're beginning to enjoy all the change you've experienced. You're also more confident and don't feel as lost.
So, let it happen. Enjoy it. You’re on to something great right now.
Dr. Benjamin Hardy is an organizational psychologist and best-selling author of six books. His work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Medium, the New York Times, CNBC, among many others.