Why you should feel the fear and do it anyway
I know what you’re thinking. Where have I heard this before?
Maybe it was your mum telling you it or maybe it was like me, when I read the cover of the book.
This post isn’t about the book. It’s about the message.
Fear is a natural part of our lives.
Some fears can be a debilitating experience that is pervasive across many areas of people’s lives.
For others, fear is something to embrace.
In this way, we can understand that fear can be both a good and bad experience, sometimes it is all of it at once.
Part of where our fear comes from is change.
This may sound like an old cliché, but change is a part of our daily lives.
It is a natural and inevitable part of it. Sometimes, change happens to us and sometimes we direct that change.
Sometimes, we fight to prevent it.
Too often we let our doubts and fears get the best of us
What if I don’t get the job? What will happen if I don’t get the visa extension? What if I fail the IELTS test?
What will I do? What if something bad happens to me when I am in Australia, or what if something bad happens to my family?
What if while I am away my girlfriend/boyfriend breaks up with me? I’ll be all alone and what then?
All of these doubts and fears can work together to stop change from happening.
Making a decision
A few months ago I was lost in doubt. I had to make a decision.
Should I apply for a new job that would take me from teacher to manager?
My mind was reeling. The commute is long. There would be new people.
A new environment. Change, change, and more change. That old familiar fear crept back.
What if I didn’t like it? What if I’m no good at it? What if I get the position and then three months later they change their minds.
Am I ready to stop being a full time teacher?
And then suddenly I had to stop
I had to stop myself from fearing the change so much that in the end I wouldn’t make any decisions at all.
The only way to find out if I could do the job was to do it. I had to apply and find out.
Had I done nothing, nothing would have changed. Had I tried and failed, at least I knew I had given it a go.
In my case, I tried, and I succeeded.
What I have learnt in life and as part of my Langports experience is that if you change nothing, nothing will change.
So, feel the fear and do it anyway.
As George Adair once said,
“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.”
- Hester Mostert – Director of Studies, Langports Brisbane
More motivational blog posts:
Take the leap: Live in Australia
Not Every Hero Wears a Cape!
Be Yourself, Be Different
Time – Use it well, Use it Wisely
Langports Made My Dream Come True !
Why you should make mistakes when you learn English
A jump into happiness