What Are You REALLY Afraid Of?

This week I participated in a discussion about fear.  What is it that I am really afraid of?

I was asked to write down two fears I had.

Because I am just starting out in a new career as a health and fitness coach, I focused on my fears as they relate to that.

1. I fear that I do not have the confidence to pull it off.
2. I fear that I don’t have the knowledge to help people

Next task was to ask myself if those fears were true, or just something I have been telling myself, or letting someone else tell me.

Is it true that I lack confidence as it relates to helping others with diet and exercise?

Yes.  That is true.

Is it true that I lack knowledge?

No, no it isn’t.  I know a LOT of stuff.  I know more stuff than people who know stuff.  I am not nearly popular enough to not have to know stuff.  Which, hello…I have an abundance of knowledge.

So, what to do with that information?

When I thought that I lacked the knowledge, my focus has been to gain more knowledge.  I have researched every diet that comes my way.  I can give you the finer points of Raw, 4 hour, Blood type, Ayurvedic, Atkins, local, blah blah blah blah blah and the list goes on and on and on.  You know, there is a diet written by just about everyone.  “I ate nothing but grass for a year and I feel great!”

Well, that’s just great! Happy for you but, I’m not eating grass for a year.

So, I can put that fear to rest.  I know stuff.

What I had to do then, was find a new fear.  Maybe lacking confidence had bolstered my need to gain knowledge.  We’ve established that lacking knowledge isn’t a fear.  What is that fear?

I’m afraid I can’t communicate my knowledge effectively.

Shazam!

Had I not figured this out, I would spend the next 10 years learning more and more and more about something that I never told anyone about.

Discovering that my fear was really that I am afraid I can’t communicate my knowledge effectively changes the game.  I can stop seeking knowledge that I already have and work on communicating.  Which I can do.  Communicating is a skill.  I can learn skills.  I can practice that skill.  I can say “screw you shoulder devil, I know stuff and you can’t tell me I don’t know stuff anymore”.

Better yet, developing my communication skills will build my confidence and both of those fears will be gone.

And then I have to find new fears.

Which doesn’t scare me at all.

About

Annie is all things awesome. Singer of songs, thinker of thoughts, runner of miles. When she isn't getting paid to kick ass as a personal trainer and health coach, she's looking for her keys.