We Don’t Have to Be Fearless to Be Brave

If you want to make a huge life change and are terrified of doing so, congratulations! It is officially confirmed: you are human. 

Will you succeed?

Who knows!

But will you start?

Lack of certainty can be paralysing. We can write business plans and book plans until we’re blue in the face, but their real value is as templates that we fill with detail along the way. They do not provide certainty of success. They do not prevent things from going ‘tits up’.

Sometimes, the only way to confront your paralysis is to close your eyes and jump. Combat uncertainty with its arch enemies: going with the flow, and trust.

Sometimes you have to close your eyes and jump — indecision or anxiety about a transformation (after doing all of the research) can be paralysing. I have always had success in closing my eyes and jumping at that point.

– Anna Laurita, founder of Davanna Yoga

Being brave is a decision to confront fear and listen to what it is telling us. It can be both a warning of danger and reassurance you that we’re going the right way.

Fear is multi-dimensional:

1. It can magnify our feeing of ‘aliveness’. Take base jumping in a volcano, for example. You could die. You could be injured. The greater the fear, the greater the thrill, the greater the feeling of ‘aliveness’.
2. It can protect us from danger. Call it survival instinct: whether there is a real physical danger or just a feeling that something is not right, fear is our knowing or ‘intuition’ guiding us to back off, do something different, or get more information before proceeding.
3. It characterises the first step out of the comfort zone. Stepping out of our comfort zone can be terrifying. In expanding our experience of life we may face resistance. This kind of fear beckons exploration and a sense of adventure.

How do we identify which kind of fear we are facing?

We confront and listen.

Fear can consume every thought in our mind and occupy every cell of our body like the enemy during occupation, but if we face it and hear what it has to say, it can be a source of knowledge and wisdom that magnifies our aliveness and helps decision making.

Fear is our body-mind barometer that measures the ‘rightness’ of a situation, and bravery in the face of it is more than the chivalrous act of putting ourselves in front of a bullet.

There are many ways to be brave:

1. Confronting fear so you can evaluate it and make a decision about it.
2. Seeing fear as an opportunity for introspection and personal growth.
3. Saying ‘yes’.
4. Saying ‘no’.
5. Following your own inner compass rather than what others think or say.
6. Asking for help.
7. Helping others.
8. Being kind and truthful.

Of course you can always put yourself in front of the bullet, too! (But what would be the point of that?)

Bravery is a choice that requires evaluation.

There is no need to be brave for the sake of it. If you’re consumed with full-body paralysis (loss of appetite, insomnia, illness) this mind-body barometer is warning you to proceed with caution, so being a martyr will not benefit you — remember to follow your own inner compass.

Fear is part of your body’s vocabulary; learn to decipher the different ways it expresses it.

Settle with uncertainty. NOT knowing is a big part of life.

– Silla Siebert, Yoga by Silla

As we go with the flow and allow things to unfold, new ideas, information and opportunities emerge from the ‘unstructured’ space we’ve created by taking a risk.

Leaving a few unconnected dots allows them to be connected in new, unexpected ways not imagined at the outset.

When writing my first book I did not know what form it would take; it unfurled itself towards my vision as any story would, page by page. I had no idea what it would look like, or that I would leave my job in order to write it (on the road in Mexico, Nicaragua, Oregon and California). The vision was larger than the book itself, allowing the book and the process of writing it to be whatever it needed to be in order to fulfil that vision. It scared the shit out of me.

But I let it unfold.

Can you let your life, your art, or your business unfold?

Sometimes when you’re not quite there yet, acting as if you are can create the condition you are seeking.

– Lauren Peterson, Yogacompanion

Yes, you could be richer, smarter, taller and thinner; you could have more time and money; conditions could always be better … or could they?

Might the biggest risk be to wait for impossibly perfect conditions?Leaning into our edge as we strive towards perfection allows the perfect experience to unfold.

Fear is a gift of ‘aliveness’ and the voice of our inner sage, something for which we can be grateful.

Stephanie Holland is a Business + Startup Strategist, host of Passionate. Purposeful. Visionary. — so you can quit your day job and do what you love — and creator of The Power Sessions — so you can launch that love online with a *kaboom*.

She’s obsessed with digital and media strategies for startups — the kind that empower passionate, purpose-driven people and business to thrive in a digital world — and gets a kick out of helping people launch and grow their brand online.