I was Living in Fear

Fear. It can be a big thing or a small thing that makes you tie yourself up into knots. It would be fair to say I was really good at living in fear before I did my first 20 week challenge. It was the kind of fear that wasn’t the big stuff – it was the fear that talked to you, telling you you will look silly if you try this, you are too big to wear that, it was the unanswered question what if?

My life was going okay I thought, then things changed – mother fear kicked in as my first born left home to live in another city…the what if questions were loud and persistent. My job hours suddenly lessened and then I get gently encouraged/cajoled into this thing called a 20 week challenge. All that fear of failing was right there talking to me and questioning me but I had a secret weapon – an amazing group of people who just kept encouraging me to change my story – change it to what you want it to be. So my first challenge I zumba’ed, I danced (in my dressing gown), I laughed and I worked hard on changing my story. And I did not fail. In fact as a team we were successful. So I came back. I still had unfinished business with my head space – again I had a fantastic group around me and my head space changed – I have gained greater confidence when faced with any challenge big or small, but more importantly my story has changed and continues to develop. I used to walk past or watch people doing fun activities and wish that I could do that too. Fear stopped me and now in 2016 I am coming back to do a third challenge and live our family goal #2016experiencesnotstuff. Courage has seen me take on new things again this year and my goals for the challenge have been inspired by other challengers reaching their goals. I gave my trainer a quote after the first challenge – Life begins at the end of your comfort zone – my goals this year will push me out of the zone a little further and where I once would have just preferred to sit and wish, I now am looking forward to stretching myself. Those questions are still unanswered, the fear of failing is still there – but I know I just have to take the leap and trust the landing spot will be there – right where it needs to be.

A thousand mile journey begins with one step – no matter how hard that one step might be or how steep the climb might be at times, once started, your whole outlook on life changes.

Cheryl ????

Have you got a story of courage that you’d like to share with us? Sharing stories is courageous in itself. It also gives others inspiration. We’d love to hear from you! Courage My Love