Fear and Potential

Are you sick of hearing about my latest project yet? That’s one of the many fears I have stumbling around in my brain these days… that everyone has heard more than enough about the 90-Day Revolution (ad nauseum) and has vowed to unfriend me, unfollow me or otherwise block me if I so much as utter the words “90-Day Revolution” ever again.

Some of my other fears include (but are certainly not limited to):

• Everybody thinks I’m crazy.
• The 90-Day Revolution was a stupid idea conceived during a momentary lapse of reason brought on by too little sleep, too much time on my hands, too many cocktails consumed over the last 20+ years, too many self-help books, too many Ted Talks, too much Oprah, too much Martha, etc.
• Our new puppy Lucy will never be fully housebroken.
• We will never be able to sell our house no matter how much work we do on it or money we put into it.
• The Indianapolis Super Bowl will be a monumental flop.
• My “style” has devolved into something just shy of that of a bag lady.
• The small number of people who have signed up for the Revolution will be colossally disappointed in their decision to join and will blame it on their own momentary lapses of reason.
• My children have been irreparably damaged by my shitty parenting and will grow up to be serial killers or politicians.
• While I’m preoccupying myself with chasing one pipe dream after another, the world is going on without me and someday I’ll wake up to find that the only “real” job I’m able to land is one that includes having to repeatedly ask the question, “May I take your order?”
• I’m the punchline to a not-so-funny inside cosmic joke.
• I’ll never really ever get the laundry done.
• My husband and my children have double-secret meetings about me in which they talk exclusively in code and hatch plans to have me committed just as soon as I get the laundry done.

I could go on. For days. But I think you probably get the picture. My point is that I have a lot of fear about the current path I’m on (and other various and sundry things). It comes with the territory of starting something new… of marching to the beat of your own drum… of being human. Fear comes with the suit.

How do I deal with it? Just like everyone else. Sometimes I ignore it. Sometimes I face it head on and laugh in its face. Sometimes I hide from it. Sometimes I dissect it and see it for what it really is. Sometimes I let it win.

No matter what I do to it or about it, I can’t get rid of it. Not completely, anyway. And accepting that has been one of the best discoveries I’ve made recently. I’m afraid therefore I am. And if I have to be afraid of something, why not be afraid of something that matters?

I mean, seriously… isn’t it better to have some crazy, potentially world-changing scheme to keep you shaking in your boots than some of the other random, trivial and improbable things we tend to fret about? At the very least, having something BIG to be afraid of puts all that other little stuff in perspective.

And the potential payoff for overcoming my fears associated with the important things is a whole hell of a lot greater than that of the small stuff. After all, helping to convince people that they really can and should do more to help others seems just a tad more significant and relevant than focusing on procuring some cool new shoes to make me look like I’m not the polar opposite of fashionable (which I am, by the way).

Anyway, it’s all about fear management, isn’t it? We can’t really do much in the way of making a difference or affecting change in our own lives or the lives of others unless we learn how to do things that scare us. It’s quite simple and obvious and yet completely profound.

So, I’m marching forward. I’m launching the 90-Day Revolution on Wednesday. I’m trusting that no matter what, it’ll make a difference. Not because a bazillion people sign up or because it becomes the “next big thing” but because I’m scared and doing it anyway. Anytime we act in the face of our fears, we teach ourselves and others something. We teach ourselves that a little fear never hurt anybody and we teach others that if we can do something different or “out there” or downright crazy, they can too. That, in and of itself, is revolutionary.

I won’t lie and say that it doesn’t matter to me how many people sign up. It does. I love a big audience and I fear that without one I won’t be able to do what I’m setting out to do. But what I believe in my heart of hearts, is that where there is fear there is potential. Therefore, if I can move forward despite being afraid that small numbers will equate to small results, then I will have created an opportunity to have an even larger impact than I could have otherwise hoped for, planned or foreseen.

So, I’m not asking you to sign up for the 90-Day Revolution. I’m not even asking you to share it with others who you think might be interested in participating. I’m only asking that you find your own fear and move forward in the face of it. (Okay, I’d also really like it if you would at least watch the 90-Day Revolution video. I put a lot of time and effort into it and it’s pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.)

Everyday presents us all with numerous opportunities to try something different, to push our own boundaries, to put ourselves “out there” in a way that scares us a little (or a lot). The next time you run into one of those opportunities, I challenge you to close your eyes, take a deep breath and just do it. Will it be scary? Yes. But so is everything else in this life that doesn’t fall under the heading of Status Quo. Status quo is Latin for “the state in which” or in other words, “where you are now”. How can you ever expect to get anywhere else if you won’t leave where you are now?

It’s time for a revolution. Start your own, join mine… whatever. Just stop running from fear. Move toward it. That’s where the potential lives.

Tagged as: 90-Day Revolution, barriers, change, doubt, dreams, fear