Smart chocolate

Actual wrapper!

I’ve got a Dove chocolate wrapper saying that I keep posted:  Be fearless. Chocolate’s pretty wise, eh?

So simple, yet not at all easy.  

Today’s assignment got us thinking about the fears that keep us from doing the things we want and those that stand in the way of our goals. Peeling back the layers of the fear — starting at the superficial fears and working down towards the deep-seated, I-hope-no-one-finds-out fears — is one way to get to the core of what it is you’re scared of and then figuring out how to push through it.

For me, I’m the queen of self-sabotage.  Diet going well?  Losing weight, feeling great? Well, then, it’s about time to stop training and go out and get a dozen donuts!

It took me a long time to realize that this was something I was inflicting on myself instead of something that “just happened”, silly as that sounds.  And it stemmed from one very base fear that I have:  the fear of failure. When things start moving in the right direction, there’s a part of me that’s quite sure that I won’t be able to keep it up and I figure I might as well end the streak on my own terms.  I don’t want to give it my best effort, fail and then have to admit to myself and the world that my best effort wasn’t good enough.

Makes sense, right?

Having put words to this takes away some of its power.  Doesn’t make it easier to combat, but — ironically — makes me more inclined to work hard so that no one thinks that I just threw the opportunity away (the power of what other people might think!).

Think about all the things you’d do if you weren’t afraid! Figure that out and then go do it anyway.

(I sound like a motivation poster, don’t I?)