Not fulfilling your potential is damaging your DNA
Not Fulfilling Your Potential?
Then You Are Damaging Your Health!
Let me share the science behind the hidden cost of playing small & playing safe.
Potential is often experienced as an emotional or psychological issue.
What I learned this week was that not living up to your potential can be a physiological health risk that changes you at the genetic level.
Recent research in molecular biology & physiology shows that the stress of stagnation—feeling unchallenged, unmotivated or unfulfilled—can shorten your lifespan through the shortening of telomeres (the protective caps at the end of your chromosomes). They are like the plastic tips on shoelaces, protecting DNA during cell division. Every time a cell divides, telomeres get shorter. When they become too short, the cell no longer divides & becomes either inactive or dies (cell death). It's a normal part of human evolution—but chronic stress accelerates the process.
Remember, psychological stress is a whole-body event. When you consistently suppress your drive, creativity or ambition (due to fear, external pressure, lack of purpose or self belief), your body perceives that as chronic stress! The same stress that triggers inflammation, oxidative damage, and hormonal shifts… particularly elevated cortisol levels! Over time, this leads to faster telomere shortening & disruption of normal DNA repair. In other words, your body physically responds to your unfulfilled potential as if you were under constant threat.
Studies show that people with a strong sense of purpose or who regularly engage in meaningful challenges have longer telomeres, better health & wellbeing & slower biological aging. Sense of purpose: aligning focus, time investment & efforts to grow your naturally persistent gifts & talents with a service & value adding mindset.
Neglecting your innate potential, sends your body a message: stay stuck, stay stressed, stay shrinking.
If you get only one thing from this read, let it be this:
You didn’t come here to shrink.
You didn’t come here to play small.
And you’re not here forever.
You came to grow, expand, evolve, enjoy & share your unique gifts!
Embrace the potential of You.
You might feel further stressed just by reading this article backed by science because you are aware with unshakeable clarity, that you are not living your best life & are not fulfilling your potential. The purpose of this article is not to stress you out... but to wake you up!!
Listen, telomere shortening is not entirely irreversible. There are lifestyle changes that can preserve & even lengthen telomeres over time, for example via regular exercise, mindfulness and good stress management, fulfilling relationships, meaningful work & personal growth.
When you play small, your biology shrinks with you, but when you grow, stretch yourself into your Zone of Magic & Genius, aligning with your true potential... your body responds—with resilience, vitality and longevity.