Today, I came across the word “Fear” twice. At a seminar, an experienced instructor shared her encounter with a new opportunity many years ago when she just started the business and was inexperienced. Many questions came to her mind:
“What if I can’t do a good job?”
“What if I fail?”
“What if I embarrass myself?”
As these questions raced through her mind, she realised that these were all fear based questions.
Fear of not meeting expectations.
Fear of failure.
Fear of being judged.
She decided to take a leap of faith, which propelled her business to greater heights.
At night, eldest called. A first-year undergraduate grappling with adjustments to many new things, her young mind is overwhelmed with “what if” questions.
“What if I can’t make friends with anyone?”
“What if I don’t do well in my course?”
“What if people judge me?”
“What if…”
Question marks loaded with lots of fear.
Fear that she will not be accepted.
Fear that she will fail.
Fear that she is not good enough.
As I think though about my journey in life, I see my past in both of them —the speaker at the seminar and my eldest. I had the same “what if” questions and I had the same fears.
The question to ask ourselves then is: what do we do next? Do we run away from it, try to hide it? Or do we choose to embrace our fears and work on it?
What are your fears? Do you choose to turn away from it or do you learn to work with it?
“It’s not fear that gets in the way of showing up – it’s armor. It’s the behaviors we use to self-protect.”
~ Brene Brown