Fear

You Can Fear This, Or Be This!
Photo Credit: Insta @rob.potter

In my experienced opinion, there is no true formula for confronting fear, unless your equation looks something like: Just do It + With Fear =’s, Fear Confronted! Yes, it truly is that simple. Using myself as an example which I hope will inspire, I wrote this article while on a flight from Boston to Los Angeles. The trip totaled just over 5 hours, we cruised at roughly 35,000 feet and travelled at an upwards of 500 MPH, all while experiencing intermittent turbulence…. Why are these details significant? Because I have an incredibly huge fear of flying!

Having traded my miserably-lucrative career in Investment Banking for a very meaningful and deeply fulfilling, yet significantly lower paying job in the airline industry, I now have the humble luxury of flying for free. Since I view travel as an engaging form of education and since I am also a total foodie, traveling allows me to experience how others live, as well as sample many different delectable cuisines. I also get to witness how I adopt, adapt and respond to many of these new experiences. As enthralling as it all is, the lure, however, doesn’t soften nor lessen my fear of flying – not by any means!

While seated at the gate, all during boarding and up to the very moment of takeoff, I deeply regretted booking my flight on this day and pretty much anytime that I travel, honestly. I’m probably exaggerating a bit here but I am nearly certain that upon hearing my boarding group being called, I may have let out an audible yelp or two (or three!) and that I very possibly engraved the letters H E L P (with my nails), deeply into the ticket counter! Yes, I’m that afraid of flying, but….. I am more afraid of what will happen to me if I fail to challenge myself, beyond that fear.

So, with terror tucked along for the ride and with the specific goal of confrontation, we (that’s me and fear!), now choose to fly together frequently. I’ve even taken it one step further by purposefully landing at a destination, only to immediately turn around and board a flight back home departing just moments later. By confronting my fears, I’ve paved a way for my new motto in life which is that: If you fear it, you MUST move towards it. Now, if this mindset has become me, it can most certainly become you, that is, if you’re willing to “just do it” with fear tucked along for the new ride of your life!

“Everything You’ve Ever Wanted, Is On the Other Side of Fear.“  ~ George Addair

Thank You For Taking A Moment To “Dance” With Me