Hmm, fear.  It’s hard to admit to and yet it controls so many of our actions.  To complicate things there is more than one kind and varying degrees of each.  Despite having been called fearless (nonsense!) I do get scared and I have let it control my actions.  Some have thought I don’t because it rarely stops me in my tracks, but rather it causes me to hang on to the side like a kid learning to swim or to ice skate.  If you don’t let yourself let go it ends up hampering your movements and you don’t make progress.

So here I am hanging on the side, trying to keep one foot in the safe zone while reaching for the impossible with the other.  As excuses go, I’ve rarely heard myself or others actually say “I’m scared,” it usually comes out as ‘that’s for other (richer, thinner, fitter, younger, older) people’ or ‘I don’t have time’ or something similar.  I made a lot of progress facing fears when I started in on keeping a risk list.  That led me to conquer the fear of unknown protocols like shopping for makeup or perfume in fancy department stores. Those were the easier ones to identify because the fear was a little more obvious.

When I look at the goals in front of me I know that being scared is holding me back and yet it’s just one voice among the many other excuses.  The best solution I have right now is to just to remember how I’ve conquered the smaller things, took one thing at a time, went slowly and with an open mind.  Recuperating time after facing a big challenge is also important. Most workout routines recommend putting a day or two of rest between strength training, this is no different.  I’ve made strides this week too – I’m now showing my jewelry in a gallery and moving ahead with art show planning.  There’s no half way measures on that last one.

Next week: The timing isn’t right  (I use this one a lot!)

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