“I want to learn singing, but I am afraid I am really bad at it”
“I want to open my own business, but I am afraid to take a risk”
“I want to profess my love to her, but I am afraid she will say ‘No'”
So the big question before doing anything big or new is how to overcome our fear.
Here’s the surprise:
You need not overcome your fear before you do something. That’s a false assumption. And an excuse to delay action.
What if you said
“I am really bad at singing right now, and I want to learn singing”
“I am really scared of taking risks, and I want to learn singing”
“I am afraid she will say ‘No’ and I want to tell her how I feel”
Fear and action can go together. They are never mutually exclusive. Anytime you do something that really matters – it is natural to feel shaky.
Do it anyway.
Think of the first step you want to take: Trying to sing a song, saying “I really like you” to someone, investing some amount in building your product.
Now feel the fear. Don’t attach any meaning to it. See how it feels, where you feel it in your body. Is it shivering? Is it sweating? Do your ears turn warm? Fine!! Let it happen.
It is just some shivering, sweating, warm ears – until you attach a scary meaning to it, like “This means I cannot do it” That’s something you purely make up! Many would call it ‘excitement’!
Feel the shivering, sweating, warm ears…and do the first step anyway!
