Begin Anywhere: Less Script, More Presence
Begin Anywhere: Less Script, More Presence is a podcast about showing up as you are—without waiting for the “perfect moment.”
I’m Irina Pashina—coach, mentor, supervisor, facilitator, and speaker—inviting you into conversations and reflections that are recorded in one take, imperfect by design, and rooted in presence.
Each episode explores themes of authenticity, courage, leadership, transitions, and human connection, offering space to pause and notice what is unfolding in your own life.
This podcast isn’t about scripts or polish—it’s about what becomes possible when we trust ourselves and begin anywhere.
🎧 Join me to reflect, connect, and take the next intentional step on your own path.
Begin Anywhere: Less Script, More Presence
Episode 24: Avoiding (again)
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A pattern of avoiding wants to be seen. I’m speaking about the pattern of avoiding rest in this short episode. It knocked on my door again and I felt it in my bones. By bringing it here, I hope to invite you to see how avoiding is showing up in your life, what is its intelligence, and how you can see it more for deeper awareness and choice.
I’d love to hear from you. Reach out at irina@irinapashina.com, on LinkedIn, or visit irinapashina.com to learn more about my work as a coach, mentor, supervisor, facilitator, and speaker.
Thank you for joining me on this journey of reflection and connection.
Hello and welcome. Welcome to Begin Anywhere. My name is Irina Pashina. And I'm here to hold space. To hold space for all of us where we can begin anywhere. With less script and more presence. Thank you for joining me. Hello and welcome to episode twenty-four of Begin Anywhere. Today I'm going to speak about patterns and avoiding. And this topic has been going through me for a while, for a very long time, actually. The topic of noticing what we avoid in life. In my own life, um, I can speak about more than one, but one that is very present at the moment is avoiding rest. And it has been a theme throughout my life, and it has truly been a dance with it. A dance in which I was a master of avoiding rest at any cost. Part of it was enjoying doing and being active and moving fast. It was and still is a source of fulfillment, satisfaction, bringing something into the world and moving it with others. And at the same time there were deep beliefs underneath running and sustaining the avoidance to believe that if I rest, take rest, I become idle, I stop learning, I stop growing. I could be perceived as someone who is lazy. I could be quote unquote wasting my life, the one precious life we all get. And all of these still live in me. The difference is my level of awareness about them. And sometimes in some moments, I still let them take over. And I'm realizing that I'm over the phase of being angry and annoyed at myself. I am much more an internal observer when I notice the avoidance coming up again observing with positive regard. I woke up really tired today and part of me always wants to go on and doesn't want to acknowledge the tiredness and the need to stop for a minute. And there is also another part of me that is more and more present with a voice bringing up the need to recover physically, emotionally, but mentally. And there is a different dance happening now. The dance of different parts of me being on my own side, not against me. Now I'm not saying that we consist of different personalities. What I'm sharing is that there are always different perspectives in each of us. I want to be seen, witnessed. And they want our presence and attention. This has been a path of change, internal change for me. And I am bringing it into the light here. To make a point of how important presence is to ourselves for awareness, also for a deeper connection with who we are, how we are changing, what we need. And that can take many shapes and forms. But it ultimately avoiding rest means avoiding to meet myself, where I'm at, and with what I need. And through this avoidance, I miss the opportunity to be fully alive and creative, and it's interesting how counterproductive it is. And yet it still comes up. And part of this witnessing is me being here and talking about it. I I feel I feel more relaxed just by just by seeing more, being more aware. And I know I will take some time to recover. And some time can be ten minutes or half an hour, one hour, and it's or more, and it's the time that is a true expression of respect towards myself as well. And as always, it's just an example. It's one of my real life examples, and um maybe you have your own. I I am certain you do, and maybe you would be open to meet the avoiding and to see what it's trying to be and do in your life. And maybe there is an openness for you to meet it and be with it for a while and see what happens. As always, I do hope this speaks to you in whatever way it could in your context and circumstances and life and experience. And I thank you for listening. Take care and see you soon.