The Opportunity of Fear
Let’s dive right into the deep end today:
What are you afraid of?
Yep, I went for it and asked you a deep, BIG question right out of the gate. Why?
Because I think it’s time to redefine our relationship with the word – and our experience of – Fear.
In my younger years, I didn’t think of myself as a fearful, or even anxious, person.
Sure, walking alone in a parking lot at night will always raise the hairs on my neck.
But that kind of fear – whether you’ll be safe from guns at a Super Bowl parade, or whether your kid will be safe from physical brutality in a school bathroom – is not the fear I’m talking about today.
No.
I’m talking about the kind of fear that holds us back from living an authentic, aligned life.
The kind of fear that tells us we can’t aim too high, shine too brightly, or dream too boldly.
Although I never thought of myself as a fearful person, I know now that I actually spent a lot of time being afraid… of Fear.
So much so that I avoided the topic altogether!
At the first sign of ANYTHING that felt out of my comfort zone, anything that gave even a whiff of ‘scary’ – I was out.
By turning away from my fear, I kept myself safe. And I also kept myself small.
The funny thing about fear (if anything could actually be funny about it) is that it actually offers us an opportunity.
If we can be brave enough to pause and consider our fear…to roll it around in our palm like a small rock we picked up on the beach…
What we’ll see is that it’s actually giving us clues about what matters to us.
What we’re afraid of holds the key to unlock what we truly care about.
This is why our fears and our dreams go hand in hand.
When I first started intentionally contemplating my own fears, I used these three questions as my starting point.
These questions granted me the freedom and permission to be honest about what my fear was trying to tell me, and to discover how it was holding me back.
Ironically, it’s by turning toward our fear that it starts to lose its grip on us.
In fact by turning toward our fear, we unlock our greatest potential.
Today I invite you to reflect on something that scares you, and run through these three questions yourself. Then notice: what’s new here for you? And what’s important about that?
Onward,
PS: Ready to tackle what feels scary in service of the big vision you’re holding for yourself? Submit your interest form and get on the waitlist for 1:1 coaching with me!