My daughter went sky diving a couple of years ago and often recommends that she and I do that together in the future. You know, a fun mother-daughter day in which I am terrified for my life versus oh, you know, a freakin’ massage and a nice lunch. When I nicely (okay, maybe not so nicely) told my daughter that it will be a cold day in hell before I jump out of a plane, I started to do a bit of soul searching about my adamant, “absolutely not” response. Obviously, one reason for not jumping out of a plane is, why would anyone ever jump out of a plane? However, that seemed rhetorical so I spent some more time pondering it.
Here’s what I came up with…I’m a scaredy cat. Seriously, almost everything scares me. I’m nervous far more frequently than not. I’ve felt this way since I was a kid and would spend a good half-hour prior to bed doing a full bedroom scan for spiders. I’m not naturally brave or risk taking. Every risk I’ve taken in my life has felt far more threatening than a jump out of an airplane.
I’m nervous when I speak in front of a crowd, and yet I do it almost daily. I’m not super comfortable with selling my coaching services and my own credentials, and yet I do that almost daily as well. Tough conversations are a bit scary for me and I have to psych myself up to have them. Even then, they don’t always turn out so well. Bottom line, I’m scared fairly frequently and yet I take that leap anyway. So why would I feel the need to jump out of a plane and add to all that fear? Answer – I wouldn’t!
The Thrill of Facing Our Daily Fears
And there it is. My daily life is a wild, thrilling adventure (at least for me), and it offers up enough emotional challenges to keep me on my toes. Maybe I’m my own version of a thrill- seeker, or maybe I’m just rationalizing my scaredy-cat nature. Either way, I’m not jumping out of an airplane anytime soon, but I am going to keep on walking into my daily fears. Maybe you feel the way I do. Life offers plenty of small and large thrills every day and loading on our bravery for those thrills is more than enough for most of us.
If facing your daily fears feels like the equivalent of skydiving, don't berate yourself for being timid. Instead, acknowledge your fears and celebrate when you tackle them. #fear #bravery #thrills #skydiving Click To TweetWith the awareness that I actually do my own version of skydiving daily, came the desire to actually pat myself on the back for facing my fears. How often do we challenge ourselves, walk through that challenge like a star skydiver and then chastise ourselves for not skydiving without a parachute? Why can’t we acknowledge our fears and celebrate when we tackle them? What fears are you tackling daily and when is the last time you congratulated yourself for doing so? Today might be a good day to do that. For me, it was a good day to not jump out of an airplane.
Love,
Lisa Kaplin Psy. D. PCC