Fear has come up in my world more frequently than usual this week. Some of it has been my own, and some of it has been expressed by others; all of it though, is an opportunity to grow. As my mentor Todd Durkin has taught me, “if you’re not playing scared, then you’re not playing in the right stratosphere.” He has shared the secret of fear with me, and that is, embrace it.
My fears this week involved public speaking and a commercial shoot. Now, on the surface, I was super excited about both of these opportunities. I get to be on a TV commercial and I got to speak about confidence to a great group of high school girls, both are things that are exactly what I should and want to be doing. Deep inside however, my insecurities of the past started screaming out at me. Fear started telling me lies and they echoed loud enough for me to believe them.
Fear expressed itself differently at the gym among some members that I was helping. These members are on a journey towards health and weight loss, but from where they stand the journey looks so long, so treacherous and difficult and so uncertain, that the fear of their own ability to succeed and prevail the entire way has practically paralyzed them in self-doubt. Fear is the sign that you’re onto something great. Pushing past fear strengthens your mind to push past your ungrounded insecurities, and every time that you face fear and look it in the eyes with courage you are on your way to becoming the you that you were always meant to be.
However your fears play out in your mind, accept them. Fear is a part of life. It’s up to you to decide how you want the fear to steer you, from fear to faith or from fear to paralysis. Have faith that everything worthwhile in this life has some element of risk and fear attached, and that fear, when properly embraced, can catapult us to greatness.