I was listening to an interview with Danielle Laporte the other day – I know I keep mentioning her, but if you become obsessed, you gotta go with it.

She said something that sent me off unraveling threads of information in my head.  FEAR = ADVICE. FEAR=ADVICE.

I am certain she went on to say something brilliant about this statement, but all the same FEAR=ADVICE had me caught up and I went no further in the interview.

Fear is powerful, fear if taken as advice can be equally as powerful. Sometimes fear is necessary to get you moving – when there is danger involved. But many times fear paralyzes us into inaction when it might not be necessary.

Sometimes fear will guide us to turn away and that’s exactly what we should do, but what about when fear stops us because we’re afraid of something that’s not real, some story we tell ourselves?  Instead of shrinking from fear, what if we stood in front of it and asked it the question – What am I actually afraid of?

I’m afraid of not being true to myself.

I’m afraid of not being able to do it.

I’m afraid that I’ll fail – correction I’m afraid that I’ll look stupid.

Why try? I’ve tried so many times and nothing works.

All messages from FEAR that are so not cool.  By answering my own question for fear – What am I afraid of?  The answers seem meaningless when I write them down. REALLY? That’s all it takes for me to GIVE UP?

FEAR, I’ve got your number and in the future, I’m going to ask for your advice instead of shrinking away from you.

We don’t have to be small, we don’t have to shrink ourselves to fit in. We can ask FEAR for advice and either take that advice or choose to turn away from it.  It’s all ours to choose.

I question myself most days right now – What if I’ve made a terrible mistake taking this job? What if it’s not what’s right for me right now? And the what if is the problem. Time will tell.

Before Danielle Laporte mentioned fear she also mentioned mistakes and how it’s a learning experience yes, but sometimes you just make BIG ASS mistakes and you can still move on from them. They are yours and do you wish they didn’t happen? YES. But you can move on from them. If you are too afraid that you’ll repeat your mistake though, you might not move on at all.  You won’t make the same mistake and even if you do, it’s yours, own it, learn from it, GO!