is your biggest fear holding you back?

is your biggest fear holding you back?

keeping you from reaching your potential?

is the little negative voice in your head telling you "you can't do it?"

do you fall apart every time someone says about your idea: "that's impossible!"

yeah, me too.... (sigh..)

i even let it kick me in the proverbial ass for a while...about thirty years worth of while.

and it still comes around, you know what i found out though?

i would like to share it with you.........

a short while ago i decided to begin a life of learning.

i finally said to myself "i don't know everything!!!" (this went straight to my heart....and ego) and WOW! did my world open up!

i decided to take on problems, instead of hiding from them. i began to create more intimate relationships with those i love, and drop the relationships that were dysfunctional.

my life has grown leaps and bounds. i am full of life, love, time, energy and money.

but it all started by asking myself: "why am i so afraid?"

"because i'm scared" was the obvious answer.

in this moment, when i asked this question, i looked back to when i was younger. i did things that i was absolutely terrified of.

i went back to the time i was sitting on the dirty floor of a noisy, loud and wind whipped interior of a prop-driven airplane and was staring out of the open door at a few fluffy white clouds and a whole lotta land that looked VERY far away.

i was the next to climb out onto the wing, and all i had was this large peice of fabric strapped to my back. i began to question how good was the guy who folded it in the pack. will it open ok? will it fail? will i even stay conscious? i was thinking of everything that could go wrong.....

i even came to terms with my death. i was NOT under any curcumstances, going to let fear kick my ass on this one even if it did mean i was going to die. i was going to do this, face my fears and live to tell the story, i was determined.

the instructor then motioned to me. it was time. i climbed out, the wind was trying to rip me from the plane, i grabbed hold of the wing and hung down.

oh my! to my exasperation, hanging onto the wing of that little airplane was one of the best memories of my life! the air was chilly and fresh, crisp and clean. you could see forever, and all i could think about was " i am actually hanging onto the wing of an airplane!"

i was supposed to give the instructor the signal that i was ready to go and he would deploy my tiny chute as i let go, but i wanted to hang on for a bit because i was loving it.

after a while, i gave the nod and let go! whooo hoooooooo hoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

a short free-fall and a couple of grunts, my chute snapped open. it was very abrupt.

it had been raining all morning and only began clearing up when our class stared jumping, so the clouds were still around and i had the privilege of flying through them in my parachute.

i was blessed to have clouds touch my face.

this was truly an eye opening experience, an evolution of mind body and spirit. i am sure that all of us have had an experience like this. maybe not jumping out of a plane, but a point in your lives where fear is pushed to the side for a moment and BLAM! you see clearly.

after thinking about this experience, i started thinking: "why not?" instead of "should i?"

everyone has these fears.

mind numbing, limb freezing, bone chilling fears. i think we will have them until the day we die.

have a look at any person you think as successful, and they will exhibit a certain trait.

this trait is acting in the face of fear.

it is getting up with your hands shaking, the pit of despair in your stomach and your rubber knees somehow holding you up enough to grab a hold of that wing long enough to let go.

this is life isn't it? these are the moments that define us.

it's not the 9-5 drudgery. it's not the morning commute.

it's about how you handle it. are you running scared or are you following through even though you are absolutely terrified.

henry fonda "tossed his cookies" before every performance until his death.

so does everyone you see "up there on that stage of success"

have a look at this: