What’s your biggest fear as you cultivate courage right now? What keeps you up at night?
I recently spoke with 11 women about courage and risk taking. They were fascinating conversations.
The women were all asked the same questions, presented in the same order and each conversation lasted somewhere around 40 minutes.
The women spanned the globe, and have all had their own unique relationship with courage. Everyone I spoke with was generous with their time and their thoughtful responses caused me to pause and reflect on my own experiences with courage.
As I listened to their stories, working to unravel what the biggest fear to leading a courageous life was for them, one common thread began to take shape.
These women told me about their biggest dreams, about their heart’s desire. They shared their urge to live their life doing the work they we’re meant to do. But they felt stuck, invisible, and unable to move forward with it.
It was astonishing that several women noted that what kept them up at night worrying — that thing that kept them replaying the old tapes, stuck, not living in the moment —was that nebulous fear of the unknown.
Fear of the unknown keeps us in a holding pattern, unable to take full responsibility for our own best life. Afraid that we’ll spread ourself too thin, we hold back our best gifts and talents, hiding them from ourself and those who will benefit most.
As the women felt into that even more, several of the women shared that what worried them most is not feeling in control. What kept them up at night was the worry about loosing themselves and loosing control. Despite feeling hopeful and optimistic, they worry about being misunderstood.
As the interview began to take a more hopeful turn, I asked the women what they would most like to change. Almost half of them shared that they “just wanted to be themselves”. They want to be more courageous and take more risk being comfortable “being me”, regardless of the outcomes.
The biggest result that they imagine from embracing their authentic self is more peace and ease in moving forward in their heart’s desire. They note that positive changes would come from embracing tools and teaching to activate self-worth, self-care, and ultimately self-love. The biggest result would be to live in the embodiment of their true, authentic self, without apology.
Now imagine, what is the biggest change you would make in cultivating your courage? What’s the biggest, juiciest result you can imagine by implementing this change?
Be The Change. Love Yourself Now.