The first date my husband and I went on was to see Pulp Fiction at the cinema. He quickly realised I’m not good with the scary bits!

I spent most of the film with my face pressed into his shoulder and my fingers in my ears (miraculously we’re still together nearly 30 years later).

I’m still not great with anticipatory fear on screen. I close my eyes. I block my ears. I find it really hard to watch.

And it can affect life off screen too. Fear of what might be - the unknown - can often slow me down and keep me stuck.

And yet…

There are things I am doing now that felt super scary in the past.

Running my own business.
Signing up for a day of improv training (safely in December for now!)
Saying no thank you.
Writing and sharing openly every week.
Spending a day riding huge waterslides (there was a lot of swearing! This summer it’s ziplining…)

These things are now scary in a good way.

The trick is to be able to tell the difference.

When is it real fear? When we are actually in danger and need to protect ourselves.

When is it imagined or projected fear? When we don’t know what might happen and imagine the worst (completely normal - our brain trying to keep us safe and protected).

When is it expansive and inspiring fear? When we’re about to step into a larger space - AKA excitement, the good stuff!

I’m not sure I’m ever going to have the capacity that my daughter has for scary movies - or the ability to plunge down a water slide in Texas without swearing, but…

Opening my eyes and ears and taking a step shows me that it’s not as scary as I imagined (so often, it rarely is).

What’s a scary part that you’re skipping right now?

And what would it look like to open your eyes and ears and take a tiny step?

Wishing you all a wonderful week,