Meet your inner protectors
Breaking it down, from the Perfectionist to the Procrastinator.
Welcome to new subscribers! I’m so glad you’re here. A quick note to introduce myself:
I’m Tracy, the host of Hidden Parts, a podcast about the inner voices that shape how you live, work and lead. My Hidden Parts framework helps you discover the “parts” or sides of yourself that dictate your beliefs about who you are, which ultimately impacts your choices and actions. These parts often show up as mental chatter, or little voices in your mind that can make you feel, think and act differently, given the situation.
Here on the Hidden Parts Hotline newsletter, I’ll share stories, manifestos, rituals, prompts, ideas, and tools to help you deep dive into your inner world and move through your outer world with more clarity, confidence, and creative power.
This is about learning who you really are beneath the pressure to prove, perfect, or please.
If you ever want to learn more about how your hidden parts are showing up for you, drop me a line!
You know the voice that tells you to triple-check the email before you send it?
The one that says “don’t speak up, you might be wrong”?
Or the one that whispers, “what if we…just keep scrolling”?
Those voices aren’t random. They’re protective parts of your inner world. The show up when an opportunity or threat (real or perceived) appear, and they’re protecting you from feeling uncomfortable or difficult emotions like embarrassment, shame, or rejection. This is why you may feel fear when making a move (i.e. sending an email, going to an event, starting a new project, applying for a job), because your mind is telling you there’s too much at risk. The risk is facing the emotion.
Heavy, right? But there’s a way through.
I first learned that we contain a multitude of different inner voices when I was in coach training at the Co-Active Training Institute, and later at the Positive Intelligence school. I began to understand that when we identify and name which part of us is trying to steer the ship of our life, we can work with that part to gain a greater sense of ownership over our direction. I learned about what goes on in our brains when we experience stuckness, or a perceived inability to move forward. And I started using these tools in my coaching sessions, seeing huge leaps forward for my clients. I quickly learned that working with their inner voices was key to getting them untangled from unhelpful narratives that were holding them back.
It wasn’t until later that I found Richard Schwartz’s book No Bad Parts, in which he outlines his Internal Family Systems model and “parts work” concept, which is based on systems theory and behavioral psychology. The hidden parts framework I use today (and in the podcast) is parts work-inspired and is based on my training, but expands on it using my own talents and style. I’m a creativity- and imagination-oriented coach, meaning I get really creative with my clients about solutions to obstacles. I can also mentally picture things my clients are saying (and not saying!) with ease. Some call this intuition, but it’s just another tool for me to call upon to help my clients.
I’m also a systems-thinker, in that I approach problems by considering the interconnectedness and interdependencies of various parts within a larger system. So my parts work-inspired framework follows suit: it’s rooted in the science of parts work, but incorporates a greater amount of imagination and creativity. I do this by bringing in guided visualizations, character studies of your parts, and creative ways to engage with your inner voices.
One way I help my clients move beyond a hurdle is by noticing when their behavior is out of line with what they say they want to do. I might hear something like, “I want to launch this new creative project, but I just can’t get started.” We’ll explore what it feels like for them to hesitate, and inevitably an emotion will come up: frustration, annoyance, guilt. We’ll explore where in their body they might feel that emotion. Maybe there’s a tightening in their chest, or a tingling in their belly, or a sense of knowing in their shoulders. And then I’ll often ask, “if that sensation in your body had a voice, what would it tell you?” They might say something like, “It says: you don’t deserve to start that new project because you didn’t even finish the last one.” And this is how the hidden parts experience begins–identifying and naming an inner voice that is critical of how they’re leading their lives, exploring the narrative and belief system it holds, developing the character by giving it a face, a shape, a sound, and meeting it and speaking with it in their mind. My client will learn that this part is usually trying to protect them from something. In this realization, they have found the key to a door in their mind that was recently locked.
It’s just a guess that you also have protective parts, but you may not know them yet. Sure, you might be aware of a little voice that tells you to feel bad when you center yourself over others, or jumps in to tell you to push harder when it’s midnight and you should close your laptop and go to sleep. But it’s rare that we feel agency over these voices. We often mistaken them for our personality. They are acting in the background of our mind, on autopilot. We think we are making active choices, but we are less in control of our actions than we think.
Your protective parts formed early, usually in response to experiences that taught you how to get love or stay safe. They mean well. They try to help you in the way they know how. But they are short-term thinkers, meant to keep you from discomfort and difficult emotions. They aren’t usually nourishing your long-term goals or championing your values.
Over the next several weeks, we’ll be meeting some of the most common protector parts so you can go deeper into this process, one step at a time. If you’ve already listened to the podcast, this can be a closer look at your protector parts and which one feels loudest to you. If you’re still working your way through Hidden Parts, this protector parts series can still help you make sense of what voices have been running in the background for you.
Some protector parts we’ll cover are ones you might recognize:
The Perfectionist, who needs to get it right
The Procrastinator, who leaves things until the last minute
The People-Pleaser, who wants to be liked
The Hyper-Achiever, who pushes hard
The Avoider, the Organizer, the Restless One, and more
Each week, we’ll explore how these parts might show up for you and how to gently turn down their volume.
You’ll get:
A story-driven intro to each part
Common thought patterns and behaviors
A self-reflection prompt
A creative exercise or ritual
And an invitation to spend time with this part
🌀 Next week: We’ll meet the Perfectionist, a major protector part for many creative, innovative and visionary folks who like to make things and really want to get their idea just right. The Perfectionist lives within me too (as someone in my life says, “Tracy, you really want to nail it.”)
Until then, listen to the podcast, or drop me a note here to say hi! I’d love to know which protector part has been loud and active in your world lately.