On fear

Well hello… life.

I miss my happy little corner of the internet, but as much as I plan on sitting down and taking the time to write, days, weeks, MONTHS go by.. and here I am.

No major explanation. Just shifted priorities.

It’s funny; I used to stress out almost daily checking out my blog stats. Where did my traffic come from, who pinned what post, how many likes I had on Facebook, what new followers I had on instagram.

And then I ended up in a 9-5 that basically has sucked away 8 hours social media time I formerly had.. Gone are the days of taking the first two hours of my day reading and sharing blog posts, scheduling tweets and promoting my own pages. No more 100+ tweets a day, and engaging with all of my readers, while networking to try to find new blogs. You can find me a tad more active on my Facebook.

But, here I am. Ready, and prioritizing my chance to write, pushing aside the 12 draft posts that I have started and restarted and never finished.

This post is inspired by the Girls Gone WOD podcast, as today they were talking about fear, sharing their own and sharing some of their listeners’. And if you were to ask me six months ago what I was afraid of – I could give you a laundry list.

Fear of failure. Fear of disappointment. Fear of being in a crowded room and not knowing anyone. Fear of meeting new people. Fear of staking a claim and going for it. Fear of what others thought. Fear of missing a workout. Fear of not eating the right things. Fear of not being able to let go of things. Fear that I can’t write a blog post that I can be happy with without taking 8 hours to review, revise, or rewrite (yep – just about every prior post goes like that).

The past six months have been pretty spectacular for me (almost lining up with the past four and a half months of leaving my last job).

But what stands out the most out of all of this time – is that I have changed, and I don’t fear much.

I have developed this confidence from the inside (whereas Crossfit has definitely helped confidence from the outside). I have put myself out there, branched out of my comfort zone more times than I can count, and on the other side of it – I realize there really isn’t that much to be afraid of.

Many times the fear that people have it solely due to their mindset, and my mindset has shifted tremendously recently because I know that if I am going to do what I was put here to do; if I am going to pursue my passion and do whatever it takes to get me there; if I am going to strive to do what makes me happy and fulfilled – I can’t be fearful of any outcomes.

I have been reading Jack Canfield’s Success Principles. I almost want to tell you to just read it and then come back and tell me what you think. Seriously, life changing and if you have any doubt in your mind about where you are or where you are going or any sort of ‘but I can’t..’ or ‘I could never..’ or ‘that won’t ever happen to me..’, you need this in your life.

It is full of stories of people who set their minds to doing something – and did it, despite any circumstances, in spite of anyone telling them they couldn’t, or being rejected hundreds of times.

What if we just all took a step back and let go of our fears?

Do the thing that scares you.

Voluntarily put yourself into positions that make you awkward and uncomfortable and.. make it out alive.

As someone who is really introverted and have been called socially awkward, I have far surpassed my comfort zone recently. I left my job of six years to take a not-so-secure contract position elsewhere.

I did acro-yoga.

Me and my mini-me started a new business venture (which, at first, I was hesitant to talk about, but now I want to tell everyone!).

I patiently rehabbed my shoulder.. and learned a new movement.

I traveled out-of-state (alone) and stayed with a houseful of outgoing strangers, where I proceeded to stalk my #instacrush. I attended multiple networking events with roomfuls of people I never met. I worked a few vendor booths at local fairs and events.

I signed up for Crossfit Team Series.

And it’s silly to think now that I was scared of these things.

I honestly can say there is hardly anything at all that scares me that is within my control.

Sure, I fear something happening to a close family member or to my dog. And I’ll always have a strange irrational fear of aliens, ghosts, and chemical warfare..

But being fearful of things that can be changed solely by changing your mind? There is no reason for it. Really ask yourself – what is the worst that can happen?

You are in control of what you do.

Your turn..
When was the last time you did something outside of your comfort zone?
What is something that scares you?
Do you have any irrational fears?