Have you ever seen an athlete training with a running parachute?
As they sprint, the parachute fills with air and creates resistance. Every stride requires more effort. The harder they push, the harder the parachute pulls against them.
Athletes do this on purpose because the extra resistance helps build strength, speed, and endurance.
But imagine running an important race… and forgetting to take the parachute off.
No matter how determined you are or how hard you work, you’re carrying something that’s slowing you down.
I think many of us go through life doing exactly that.
The difference is that our parachute isn’t made of nylon.
It’s made of old beliefs, unresolved emotions, and experiences we’ve carried with us for years.
Maybe you grew up believing you weren’t smart enough.
Maybe you learned that making mistakes wasn’t okay.
Perhaps you felt you had to earn love by pleasing everyone else, or you discovered that staying quiet felt safer than speaking your mind.
As children, these beliefs often make perfect sense. They’re our way of understanding the world and protecting ourselves.
The problem is that we rarely stop to ask whether those beliefs are still true.
Instead, we carry them into adulthood, where they quietly influence our decisions, relationships, careers, and confidence.
In How Human Programming Develops: The Hidden Influence of the Subconscious Mind, I explain how conclusions formed during childhood can become subconscious programs that continue influencing us decades later.
You may hesitate to apply for a promotion because part of you still doubts your abilities.
You may avoid difficult conversations because you’re afraid of rejection.
You may procrastinate, not because you’re lazy, but because you’re afraid you won’t do something perfectly.
From the outside, it can look like you simply need more motivation or more discipline.
But what if that’s not the real problem?
What if you’ve been trying to sprint through life while dragging an invisible parachute behind you?
One of the things I love most about hypnotherapy Los Angeles is that it helps us become aware of the resistance we’ve been carrying without realizing it.
Many people come to me believing they need more willpower.
Instead, we often discover that they’re working against old subconscious programming that no longer serves them.
This is why focusing only on the behavior or emotion we can see isn’t always enough. In Sometimes the Pain Isn’t the Problem, I explore how anxiety, self-doubt, procrastination, and other struggles can sometimes be symptoms of something deeper operating beneath the surface.
If we only try harder without understanding what’s creating the resistance, we may simply exhaust ourselves fighting against the same old patterns.
It’s important to understand that your subconscious mind isn’t intentionally trying to hold you back.
It’s trying to protect you.
Perhaps speaking up once resulted in embarrassment.
Maybe making a mistake led to criticism.
Perhaps rejection was particularly painful.
Your subconscious mind learned from those experiences and created strategies designed to prevent you from experiencing that pain again.
Those strategies may have made sense at the time.
But they may no longer make sense today.
As I explain in The Purpose of the Subconscious Mind, patterns that once helped us cope or feel safe can eventually become barriers to confidence, happiness, and personal growth.
The subconscious may continue following an old set of instructions even though your circumstances have completely changed.
That’s the invisible parachute.
Through hypnotherapy and NLP Los Angeles, we can begin identifying outdated beliefs, releasing unresolved emotions, and replacing old patterns with healthier, more empowering ones.
You might discover that:
“I’m not good enough” has been quietly influencing your decisions.
“I can’t make mistakes” has been feeding your perfectionism.
“People won’t like me if I say no” has been driving your people-pleasing.
“If I try and fail, I’ll embarrass myself” has been keeping you from pursuing opportunities.
These beliefs can feel like facts because you’ve carried them for so long.
But a belief isn’t necessarily the truth.
Sometimes it’s simply a conclusion you made years ago.
In Rewire Limiting Beliefs With NLP Coaching and Hypnotherapy, I discuss how these deeply rooted beliefs can be identified and replaced with perspectives that better support the person you are today.
The goal isn’t to become a different person.
It’s to become the person you were always capable of being once the unnecessary resistance is gone.
I’ve seen clients describe this experience as feeling lighter.
Not because life suddenly became easy.
Life still has challenges.
But they’re no longer spending so much energy fighting themselves.
One of my favorite reminders is this:
Sometimes trying harder isn’t the answer. Sometimes letting go is.
Imagine how different life might feel if you weren’t dragging years of fear, self-doubt, guilt, or criticism behind you.
How much energy would you have?
What opportunities might you finally pursue?
What conversations would you have?
Who could you become?
Perhaps the greatest freedom isn’t learning how to push harder.
Perhaps it’s finally discovering that you don’t have to carry the parachute anymore.
If you could remove one invisible parachute from your life, what would it be?
Fear of failure?
Fear of rejection?
Not feeling good enough?
People-pleasing?
Sometimes asking the right question is the first step toward lasting change.
And sometimes the language we use to describe ourselves can reinforce the very resistance we’re trying to overcome. As I discuss in How The Words You Use Frame Your Life, the words and labels we repeatedly use can influence how we perceive ourselves and our experiences.
Instead of asking:
“What’s wrong with me?”
Perhaps a more useful question is:
“What am I still carrying that I no longer need?”
That small change in perspective can open the door to curiosity instead of criticism.
If this article resonated with you, perhaps it’s time to become curious about what’s been shaping your life behind the scenes.
Hypnotherapy, hypnosis, and NLP Coaching can help uncover subconscious beliefs and emotional patterns that may no longer be serving you, allowing you to move forward with greater confidence and freedom.
You don’t necessarily need to push harder.
You may need to discover what’s been pulling you backward.
And once you recognize the invisible parachute you’ve been carrying, you can begin the process of letting it go.
Jayne Goldman, MBA, C.Ht., is the Founder and Principal of Best Life Hypnotherapy in Los Angeles. She is a Certified Hypnotherapist, NLP Master Practitioner and Coach, and Master Time Line Therapy® Practitioner who helps clients release limiting beliefs, overcome anxiety, build confidence, and create lasting change through hypnotherapy, hypnosis, and NLP Coaching. She works with clients throughout Los Angeles and online.
