Fear is a master at keeping you stuck.
It keeps you from lifting your head to see things differently. It keeps you from soaring.
Fall is a time for harvesting what benefits us and letting go of what doesn’t. As 2024 comes to a close and you look towards 2025, it may be worth your time to reflect on where fear has held you back this year.
And how could moving beyond fear help you grow this upcoming year?
It’s easy to convince yourself you’ll move forward once the fear is gone. That’s how fear works. It makes you think there will be a time when it doesn’t exist. But, unfortunately, fear is a constant companion.
It’s common to see someone boldly leading their business to a new level and be in awe of how fearless they seem. But they aren’t fearless.
They’ve just learned to recognize fear for what it is and move past it.
Fear isn’t all bad. It can be helpful. It exists to protect you. It keeps you from doing life-threatening things like walking in front of a bus. And it likes the role it plays in your life. It wants to keep you safe.
But Fear’s idea of keeping you safe can keep you from trying new things. It wants you to keep playing small.
Fear prevents you from learning and growing. It convinces you that you MUST know everything before moving a project forward.
Fear criticizes everything you’re doing and tells you it’s not good enough. And even though it’s trying to keep you safe, fear keeps you stuck exactly where you are.
The only way past fear is to go through it. To acknowledge it exists and do the thing that scares you. But this is incredibly hard.
Sometimes you need an accountability partner to keep you focused on moving forward.
Other times it helps to schedule something on the calendar that you can’t back out of.
Find ways that work for you.
As you reflect on 2024, where are the places you moved through fear and did what scared you anyway?
Maybe it was starting your own business. Or maybe you decided there were more ways you wanted to use your innate skills or change your career. Perhaps you realized the world would keep spinning even if you stopped to take a break. Maybe it was simply permitting yourself to envision a different life.
The biggest takeaway from my work as a coach is that you are braver than you believe you are.
As you begin to think about 2025, what choices can you make that will allow you to soar?
What freedoms are waiting for you on the other side of fear?