“Read,” said Sister Margaret. I was about 7 years old at Catechism and just stared at her as if she had four eyes and didn’t respond. “It’s nonsense for your child to be learning French when she can’t even read in English!” she later went on to tell my parents. I was a late bloomer when it came to reading and writing-blame it on French Immersion became my excuse. It became my story; and I went on to avoid any subjects that required heavy writing.
I did and do love reading, but loath writing. There’s structure to follow, there’s grammar and punctuation to know, and then even references to support your ideas...and done, why even bother getting started?
Starting a business in the information age is challenging my little “I was in French Immersion so I can’t write” story. Social media, social networking and blogging are all cornerstones to successful marketing and promotion. Not only does this important business tool challenge my fear of writing, it is also prime breeding ground for any impostor type thoughts bubbling away in my subconscious. I’m already thinking this bog is garbage so far. But I will persevere!
So what do I know enough about to write about and what makes me think that the French Immersion kid can pull something off that has a point and flows?
I have many fears. I know about the fear of losing everything, the fear of speaking in front of large groups of people, the fear of writing and the fear of water. Fear breeds anxiety in every cell of my body. It turns my stomach into an acidic nausea stew. It makes my palms sweat, my heart race and my breathing shorten. I try every technique out there; visualization, belly breathing, exercise. None of it works. Try again, breath, breath, and then a big long slow breath out.
Breathing does help and then I try to imagine the absolute worst case scenario or outcome. “Getting kicked in the head in the swim portion of my half Ironman, chocking on water, having to stop turn over and finish the swim on my back.” Oh yeah by the way I have done that before. Not in a half Ironman but in a sprint tri in a public pool with about 100 people watching. I survived. You know why? I can handle it. I know I can float no matter what and I know that shriveling up from embarrassment just doesn’t happen. It isn’t physically possible.
Many of my clients have broken through their fear barriers or are just on the brink of jumping. Knowing that others have succeeded is inspiring and motivating. What’s your fear and how did you overcome it to achieve a milestone in your life? At Better Your Best we call these the “Careful what you wish for moments.” These are the moments where the dream you articulated, the dream that you took the time to get out of your head was realized and those fears were overcome.
My blog "Play by Your Own Rules" generated a ton of very positive responses and five new clients. This has taught me two things. First, people are ready to start considering more meaningful ways of living their lives, but are scared of the unknown. Second, I need to keep writing. I need to keep practicing; I need to keep feeling the fear.