So: you’ve accepted the call… but you aren’t moving.
When looking at the Mythic Map that is your hero’s journey, the second destination—the place you hit almost immediately after deciding to change—is the Dark Forest. This is where the clarity you had during “The Call” suddenly vanishes, replaced by a thick fog of resistance, doubt, and fear.
If you feel like you’re standing at the edge of the trees, unable to take the next step, you aren’t lazy. You are being met by your own internal defense system.
🎧 Listen to Episode 3
To hear the deep dive on the Dark Forest and how to mobilize your inner resources, hit play below.
Want the highlights or the deep dive? The key takeaways are below, and if you keep scrolling you’ll find the full transcript.
The Evolution Sphere: The Great Tug-of-War
In the Gene Keys, your greatest calling is represented by your Life’s Work. But standing directly across from it is your Evolution Sphere—the “Dark Forest” of your profile. This sphere is the great tug-of-war of your life. While your Life’s Work wants you to expand and shine, your Evolution Sphere often pulls you back into shadows like inadequacy, judgment, or restlessness.
For years, the shadow of Inadequacy drove me to pour every dollar I earned into more courses and coaching. I believed I was inherently “not enough,” so I tried to control my image and my business to hide that supposed brokenness. It was only by facing this shadow that I could unlock the gift on the other side: Resourcefulness.
Meeting Your Inner Protectors
If you can’t seem to take action, it’s often because of “Parts Work” (Internal Family Systems). We are all made up of different “parts”—inner voices that represent us at different ages. Many of these are Protector Parts. They were developed when you were a child to protect you from being shamed or rejected.
- The Stifled Voice: If you were teased for being “too much” at age seven, a protector part might now be “protecting” you from recording social media videos by making you feel extreme anxiety or physical tension in your throat.
- The Busy Procrastinator: If you failed at a business attempt years ago, a protector might be ensuring you stay “too busy” with low-level tasks so you never have the capacity to launch again.
Stop Being Mean to Yourself
Most professional advice tells you to “stop making excuses” and “just do the thing.” But if an internal part of you truly doesn’t feel safe, “strong-arming” yourself won’t work. Yelling at yourself or punishing yourself only gets you more stuck in the mud.
The solution is Compassion and Understanding. When you acknowledge these parts and thank them for trying to protect you, they can begin to ease their stance. You can then “reassign” that internal energy toward your common goal.
Want a personalized Mythic Map of your own hero’s journey?
That’s why I created Mythic Journey.
Your Gene Keys profile reimagined as a literal map that will reveal your most challenging internal obstacles to overcome, protective patterns to disrupt, and the gifts that are waiting for you on the other side. Over the course of 75+ minutes (in a pre-recorded video you can watch over and over again), I’ll operate as your very own guide as weave the new narrative for what you’re being called to and how to step into your full potential.
Intrigued and want to know more? Click here for all the deets!
Read the Full Transcript
When looking at the Mythic Map that is your hero’s journey, the second destination—the place you hit almost immediately after deciding to change—is the Dark Forest. This is where the clarity you had during “The Call” suddenly vanishes, replaced by a thick fog of resistance, doubt, and fear.
If you feel like you’re standing at the edge of the trees, unable to take the next step, you aren’t lazy. You are being met by your own internal defense system.
🎧 Listen to Episode 3
To hear the deep dive on the Dark Forest and how to mobilize your inner resources, hit play below.
[Insert Audio Player Here]
Want the highlights or the deep dive? The key takeaways are below, and if you keep scrolling you’ll find the full transcript.
The Evolution Sphere: The Great Tug-of-War
In the Gene Keys, your greatest calling is represented by your Life’s Work. But standing directly across from it is your Evolution Sphere—the “Dark Forest” of your profile. This sphere is the great tug-of-war of your life. While your Life’s Work wants you to expand and shine, your Evolution Sphere often pulls you back into shadows like inadequacy, judgment, or restlessness.
For years, the shadow of Inadequacy drove me to pour every dollar I earned into more courses and coaching. I believed I was inherently “not enough,” so I tried to control my image and my business to hide that supposed brokenness. It was only by facing this shadow that I could unlock the gift on the other side: Resourcefulness.
Meeting Your Inner Protectors
If you can’t seem to take action, it’s often because of “Parts Work” (Internal Family Systems). We are all made up of different “parts”—inner voices that represent us at different ages. Many of these are Protector Parts. They were developed when you were a child to protect you from being shamed or rejected.
- The Stifled Voice: If you were teased for being “too much” at age seven, a protector part might now be “protecting” you from recording social media videos by making you feel extreme anxiety or physical tension in your throat.
- The Busy Procrastinator: If you failed at a business attempt years ago, a protector might be ensuring you stay “too busy” with low-level tasks so you never have the capacity to launch again.
Stop Being Mean to Yourself
Most professional advice tells you to “stop making excuses” and “just do the thing.” But if an internal part of you truly doesn’t feel safe, “strong-arming” yourself won’t work. Yelling at yourself or punishing yourself only gets you more stuck in the mud.
The solution is Compassion and Understanding. When you acknowledge these parts and thank them for trying to protect you, they can begin to ease their stance. You can then “reassign” that internal energy toward your common goal.
Read the Full Transcript
Entering the Dark Forest
If you think you’ve accepted the call but you can’t seem to take any real action, then this episode is going to break down what is likely going on and what you need to do to mobilize yourself.
When looking at the Mythic Map that is your hero’s journey, the second destination is the Dark Forest. The journey starts at the top with “The Call,” but what can be the most challenging is what happens after we embark into the unknown. Suddenly, what was clear before is not at all clear. The Dark Forest represents our ego’s fears coming up to try and convince us to turn back.
Even though I map this out in a linear format, the journey itself is non-linear. We can circle back and find ourselves in the trees again even after making progress.
The Tug-of-War: Life’s Work vs. Evolution
In your Gene Keys profile, your Life’s Work sphere represents your greatest calling—the light you are here to share with the world. The next sphere we look at is Evolution, which is like the great tug-of-war. For whatever you’re trying to lift towards, the Evolution sphere is the thing trying to pull you back and keep you small. It’s where our greatest fears and the lies you believe about ourselves can be hidden.
In my own chart, my Life’s Work shadow is Control, and my Evolution shadow—the Dark Forest—is Inadequacy. Inadequacy is the belief that we are inherently broken and not good enough. Looking back, every misaligned decision I ever made had an undertone of believing I was inadequate. It motivated me to pour all my revenue into more courses and coaching because I felt like I was never going to be enough.
If you believe you’re inherently unworthy, it ripples into every interaction with potential clients or collaborators. However, understanding this wound has equipped me to empathize with others. We have all had this shadow show up in some shape or form, often presented to us by our rational minds with a justification for why the pattern is “strategic” or “safe.”
Shadow Work and Resourcefulness
Facing those wounds is not about getting rid of them; we love ourselves back into wholeness. I’ve learned to recognize that fear without letting it drive me into another course. The gift on the other side is Resourcefulness. When I take action without a pre-set framework, I learn that I don’t need someone to tell me what to do; I can find the answers to solve any problem in the moment.
Your Evolution shadow is the thing that stops you from sharing your light. My shadow of inadequacy fed my shadow of control. I wouldn’t show up on social media until I had the “perfect” strategy and templates, because I was trying to control my image so people wouldn’t see the “truth” that I wasn’t enough.
Internal Family Systems and Protector Parts
Another form of resistance comes from our internal “parts.” Through the lens of Internal Family Systems (IFS), our mind is made up of different parts that represent us at different ages. Often, these parts are protectors developed when we were shamed or rejected as children.
For example, if you were teased for being silly or using your voice in a choir as a kid, you might have taken that to heart and decided you shouldn’t share your voice with the world. As an adult, that same protector part might kick in during public speaking, networking, or recording videos. It views using your voice as dangerous because it leaves you vulnerable to criticism.
This resistance can look like intense anxiety, over-preparing, or literally feeling tension in your throat while speaking. It can also show up sneakily: getting sick and losing your voice before an event, “urgent” appointments popping up, or simply freezing for months while “life gets in the way.” Your protector part is ensuring you don’t publish that video or take that risk.
Why You Aren’t Lazy
I don’t agree with coaches who say you just need to “stop making excuses.” High performers aren’t lazy; they are often facing an internal mechanism that stops them because one part of them doesn’t feel safe.
One part of you genuinely wants to do the thing, but the protector part remembers when you were crushed by a past failure and says, “Let’s not go there again.” This conversation often happens unconsciously until we bring it into awareness.
Mobilizing Your Inner Resources
Once we get to know these parts, we can educate them. They often think you are still seven years old; they don’t realize you are an adult with more skills and courage. We assume positive intent—that the part just wants what is best for you. Instead of being angry or berating these parts for being in the way, we acknowledge them and thank them for their work.
When we get our parts on board with the goal, we stop fighting ourselves. Mobilization comes from understanding, compassion, and patience—not from being mean to yourself.
This is the first threshold: are you actually taking action? Once you cross it, we can talk about the most common “monsters” in the forest and how to beat them. If you want to dive deeper into your own calling and your own “Dark Forest,” I would love to guide you through a Mythic Journey. Until then, be patient with yourself and your parts. I’ll speak to you soon.
