Your Fear Is Welcome Here
Your Fear Is Welcome Here
I have faced my mortality a couple of times already in my life. Does it make this ride any easier? I would say it depends on the moment, but mostly, unequivocally, yes.
Some days I feel very frightened and a bit held hostage by my fear, but more often than not I catch myself and see my fear as an absolutely healthy response for today’s tumultuous world. I breathe through my fear. It has been a long process for me to learn to neither judge, nor shame myself for feeling such feelings.
Since fear is such a powerful emotion, and the mental constructs we attach to it can be so incredibly debilitating, if not paralyzing, here’s a reminder:
It’s okay to be afraid.
Really.
Once again, for those in the back row:
It’s okay to be afraid.
I write this because I believe it’s essential for our mental well-being to know this to be true and to find supportive friends and therapists and coaches who can actually hold space for us to feel and express our fears.
This is a skillset that some possess, but far too many do not. And in total candor, it’s one I just had to re-learn last week when I told a coaching colleague I was really scared and she held loving, compassionate space for me ... and my fear.
I was reminded that I do not have to be in my fear alone. I do not have to contort and shut down and compartmentalize and disassociate as I have trained myself to do so brilliantly as a kid when life got difficult and scary.
Feeling one’s fears and giving them voice is part of being a healthy and authentic human being, more so during a pandemic. And, only by allowing our darker emotions to bubble up and be felt, can that trapped energy transform into something else that will most likely serve us in far more constructive ways.
If you’re feeling stuck right now, what say we set an intention to break through any log jams of fear-driven paralysis, and together welcome the darkness to discover the light within.
It’s there on the other side.
Always.
This to you I promise.