FEAR: Reality or buzzword?

FEAR: jeez, is that most bandied around, coaching buzzword ever?! I think it may be but probably for good reason. After listening to this frankly, shit-hot podcast from the brilliant Becki Rabin, I felt compelled to talk about the impact fear can have on us moving forward. Fear can be bloody crippling. The constant ‘what ifs’ ground us in our comfort zone and prevent us from chasing our dreams or true passions in life. I know I feel fear ALL the time. I have a push/pull relationship with my creativity and then fear can take over and tell ‘me to sit back down and ask me who the hell I am to do something like that’.

Unfortunately, fear can control our daily lives, prevent us from showing up as our true selves, hinder our relationships or careers and hold us back from achieving our potential in the world. During my new career journey as a coach, I have had a lot of fear. And if i’m feeling like this, I’m pretty sure plenty of other people do too.

Here’s a fear-based equation we can all relate to:
Comfort zone + safety + fear of judgement = stuck.

So, I thought I’d come clean about my own fear and what I know holds me back sometimes. You see the thing with fear is that it creeps up most days, can hold you hostage and it can shoot you down just when you think you’re getting somewhere. What fear doesn’t like is your self-awareness. Once you have an insight into where your fear-based thoughts lie or come from, you can acknowledge them, own them and put them to one side for another day.

Another corker I learned from a very clever and insightful friend, was that people don’t actually care. Most people are so absorbed in their own lives and families, that this judgement we worry about doesn’t really exist (for long anyway). They’re too busy worrying about their own shit to ponder for much longer than 2 minutes on yours! What a god damn revelation?! No one actually cares whether you launch that new business, product, podcast or book. Maybe they do for 5 mins but quite quickly after worry about their own ambitions. And if they do have the time to talk about you, deep down they’re wishing they’re achieving what you’re doing.

So really it’s a win win. Next time one of those fear-based thoughts crop up, think about how you’d feel if you didn’t make that leap towards your new idea or run with your intuition on something you think could be big. How gutted you’d feel if you just sat on an idea and then someone else succeeded with it. If this is speaking to you tonight, click here to hear about the event I have planned with Amal of Amal’s Pantry who pushed her fears aside and went with her passion. This event will be a unique blend of workshop and interview to really get some insight into how we can move forward and not let fear takeover.