What would you do if you weren't afraid?
View from above
I recently attended a webinar where speaker James Garrett talked about the courage habit and how most humans respond to fear. When a human perceives danger, they will usually:
Freeze to process new information
Look for opportunities to flee from the situation and find safety
If there's no out, they will fight
In the modern-day world, most of the dangers we face are not life-threatening. However, this default brain mechanism is still fully operational. Perceived threats trigger a fear response and we often find ourselves regretting the actions taken (or not taken) at that time.
What if we could disconnect the fear response from the trigger? What if, when something frightened us, we could take a few minutes to consider and then take appropriate, calm action. Of course, if the threat is imminent, there isn't time to take action. However, in most cases, an immediate response isn't necessary.
I've found that most of the fears in my head (they won't like me, they'll criticize me, I'll look stupid) are useless thoughts that have been swirling around in my head for most of my life. And while, logically, I know most aren't true, they do get in the way of my moving forward.
Lamy, New Mexico
Courage isn't something you're born with;
courage is something you build.
Every month, when I write this essay, I am disconnecting the false belief that 'nobody cares what I have to say', from the trigger of sending a newsletter. After last week's webinar, I wondered, how else do I hold myself back? Where do I procrastinate and make excuses?
I've decided to challenge myself this year. Starting in February, a friend and I are starting our Courage Project. We are challenging each other to do one fearful thing a week to see what happens. We'll have 12 challenges, 12 results, with weekly check-ins. I'll report back in future newsletters!
How are you building your courage muscle this year?
"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek"
--Joseph Campbell
p.s. If you're afraid of rejection (and who isn't?), Jia Jing has written a great book called Rejection Proof. For 100 days, he challenged himself to seek out a multitude of rejections. Jia's TED Talk.
