We all have things we fear. Those things that make our hands shaky, those things that leave us paralysed and not be able to act at all. It might be the fear of what other people think about you or it might be the fear of the change you are about to make in your life.
When you see other people doing great things, you never think about the fear. You see the results, the achievements, awards, beautiful products they have designed, wonderful marketing campaigns they have launched or the ultimate world tour they are taking right now.
You never think about fear.
When you look at yourself, you see all the boundaries. All those fears that stop you from doing things you desire. All those things you cannot do, because you are afraid. And you think that those things are not for you. Because they make you nervous, because they make you afraid. Because they make you sweat and your hands shaky. You think that those things are not for you to do.
When I started the AltMBA workshop, I literally shut down the first general video meeting as I totally panicked about being in video, speaking in my second language with people I don’t know.
I shut it down. I was so afraid that I couldn’t act at all. And that goes way beyond just having shaky hands. I even thought that this altMBA may not be for me after all. That I may have tried to do something that is beyond my capability because it was so scary.
And what happened? Well, I took part of all of the rest video meetings during the workshop (and there were many!) and I even recorded my own video where I gave a 3 minutes speech about fear. So there I was. Shaking but talking to people I didn’t know. In my second language. On a video. Was it because I had a magic wand that I could use to make all my fears to go away?
As much as I would love to have a wand like that, that’s not the case. It’s because I made the decision to face my fears and act even I am afraid.
Of all those things I have done in my life, those which I have feared the most have been the most important things to do. Without those I would not be in where I am today.
You cannot take the fears away but you can decide to act anyway and not let the fear rule how you live your life or what you are capable of doing. So what is the thing that you fear the most at the moment? What are you afraid of deep inside right now? Maybe that is exactly the thing you should do next?
And when you do, it doesn’t matter anymore that you had that fear in the first place.
When I was a kid, I used to bury myself on the sofa with a pile of books I had borrowed from the library. Some things seem not to change that much. We haven’t had a sofa for years (or TV either) but the pile of books is still essential part of my everyday life.
The narratives we tell ourselves are a big part of who we are but those are also the key to who we could become. What kind of stories do you tell yourself?
It’s hard to admit but I’m one of those moms who work too much and say way too often that ‘let’s think about it later’. After this whole new life with even more on my plate at the same time, I find it even harder to be present and have enough time for everything. So …
Sometimes it feels like the end but is actually the beginning. You cannot expect new things to happen if you’re not willing to let some old ones to go.
Fear
We all have things we fear. Those things that make our hands shaky, those things that leave us paralysed and not be able to act at all. It might be the fear of what other people think about you or it might be the fear of the change you are about to make in your life.
When you see other people doing great things, you never think about the fear. You see the results, the achievements, awards, beautiful products they have designed, wonderful marketing campaigns they have launched or the ultimate world tour they are taking right now.
You never think about fear.
When you look at yourself, you see all the boundaries. All those fears that stop you from doing things you desire. All those things you cannot do, because you are afraid. And you think that those things are not for you. Because they make you nervous, because they make you afraid. Because they make you sweat and your hands shaky. You think that those things are not for you to do.
When I started the AltMBA workshop, I literally shut down the first general video meeting as I totally panicked about being in video, speaking in my second language with people I don’t know.
I shut it down. I was so afraid that I couldn’t act at all. And that goes way beyond just having shaky hands. I even thought that this altMBA may not be for me after all. That I may have tried to do something that is beyond my capability because it was so scary.
And what happened? Well, I took part of all of the rest video meetings during the workshop (and there were many!) and I even recorded my own video where I gave a 3 minutes speech about fear. So there I was. Shaking but talking to people I didn’t know. In my second language. On a video. Was it because I had a magic wand that I could use to make all my fears to go away?
As much as I would love to have a wand like that, that’s not the case. It’s because I made the decision to face my fears and act even I am afraid.
Of all those things I have done in my life, those which I have feared the most have been the most important things to do. Without those I would not be in where I am today.
You cannot take the fears away but you can decide to act anyway and not let the fear rule how you live your life or what you are capable of doing.
So what is the thing that you fear the most at the moment? What are you afraid of deep inside right now? Maybe that is exactly the thing you should do next?
And when you do, it doesn’t matter anymore that you had that fear in the first place.
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