When Fear is No Longer a part of your vocabulary
I got a text from a friend who was going to be speaking at an event in Los Angeles. It was early morning, she and I are both early risers and she knows it. She said she had an extra ticket that I could have. The event would be later that evening. I accepted quickly. I was happy to be able to get out and do some live face to face networking. Virtual is great but in business one, must be able to be in the live company of others. Plus, I just got my box of brand new business cards.
The ride was going to be long. I did not live anywhere near this event. But it didn’t really matter to me. I had a feeling it was going to be a good night and a chance to hangout out with my friend and support her event. She was speaking as part of a panel. I found the location easily and got there a bit early. I saw someone I knew and we had time to catch up. Soon, all the attendees were let in for dinner, I found the table and we got our dinner. By the way- the food and wine and this event was excellent. It was Mexican cuisine but tasted like someone who loves you cooked it. Everyone at the table was surprised at how good the food was, considering we were at a “Event Center”.
They finally started the event and each speaker talked about their journey to how they got where they are. I don’t want to downplay anyone else’s experience. All the speakers were dynamic, but I just want to focus on one thing that Dr. Cozette White said. She told her story and said, “Fear is no longer part of my vocabulary.” I thought “Wow extraordinary!”. I had never thought about it like that. Was it part of my vocabulary or worse, nothing every said but constantly felt? I am basically not a fearful person. I don’t have weird fears, not afraid of heights, spiders or dogs. The closest I come to that kind of thing is that I do feel “some kind of way” about putting my fingers into bowling balls. But, it’s never stopped me from bowling.
After 3 years in a row of losing major family members, I think there was a cloud of fear growing about my family. I tried not to think about it but dreaded out of state calls from family because my mind would race to some terrible possibility like it was on automatic. Somehow, in that area of my life FEAR had become part of my vocabulary and quite possible could be leaking over into other places, like my business. After hearing Dr. White say it so plainly and without trying to convince anyone, it came to me that I could let it go. It didn’t have to be a big traumatic thing, just let it go. No longer allow it to be a part of what I am feeling, even if I am not saying it.
Some other great things happened that night too. Magical meetings, new friends and business owners, an interview where I had dropped the ball was set up, an event I had forgotten about was on the table for me to get into. Just a great night with great people.
