Tuesday 30 August 2011

Leaping into the unknown


Photo Credit: Eric Chan
" Inaction breads doubt and fear. Action breads confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy. " Dale Carnigie
 
I’m feeling pretty scared right now. The reason? I’m about to publish my first ever blog post along with  launching a new online venture – Let’s Go Make. I keep trying to tell myself that there’s not really any reason to be scared.  My family and friends will still love me and my life obviously isn’t in any imminent danger, so why worry? But I do worry. I worry because after I’ve lived with and quietly developed my venture for about 6 months, I’m going to share it with the big wide world and people are going to judge it . Whilst this process is also very exciting it's also very daunting. It’s much easier to just daydream about what your going to do because then things always work out just as you hope they would. Actually doing it, no matter how much you’ve tried to prepare, means you don’t get to choose a happy ending, that’s for other people to decide.  

In my more rational moments, when I really stop and think about what I’m about to do I remind myself that the times I’ve been most scared in my life are also the times when I’ve felt most alive.  The times when you venture out of your comfort zone are the moments that make you who you are. Only by placing yourself in a position where there’s a chance you might fall short, or fail,  can you really grow. If I look back on my own life thus far  events like running a marathon, making a speech, photographing my first wedding, moving to another country or quitting a steady job were all times I felt a similar kind of trepidation. Having successfully navigated these challenges  you realise that the hardest part is stepping over the metaphorical starting line. Once you have done that, so long as you've prepared properly it becomes easier from then on. So as I press 'publish post' and my thoughts go out into the world I'll be telling myself that I've done the hard part. I’m proud of what I’ve done and the fact that I’ve actually gone and done it is what matters. Soon it will be to late to be scared any more and I’ll realise that there wasn’t really any reason to be scared in the first place . So here goes….click…