Startling News: The Key to Passion is Fear?!

Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.” Rosa Luxemburg

Any risk worth taking is worth taking whether it leads to success or failure. Martha Beck

Thinking it Through

I’m sure you’ve heard of people, may even know some, who love taking risks. Usually they are physical ones like ski-diving or deep-sea cave exploring. They are hooked on adrenaline. Most of us shake our heads in amazement at their choices. While we may never, ever want to copy them I believe they are on to something. Taking risk makes us feel alive. More importantly, growth of any kind requires a certain amount of risk. Anytime I hear someone say they have no fear and are content where they are, it makes me wonder… How alive are they feeling?

I am the first one to admit that I love comfort. My favorite adventure is to head on over to the nearest spa! It is easy for me to live in my comfort zone. What I have come to realize though, is that my desire to live in my comfort zone and my desire to grow, create and live a passionate life are often in direct conflict. I need to stretch my comfort zone and the only way to do that is to take risks. My risk muscles need building. I start by scaring myself everyday. I did that today by dealing with an IRS issue. I really wanted to put it off, bury the offending letter and pretend it wasn’t there but I didn’t. I handled it and the feeling of strength and power it gave me was well worth the feeling of risk I had to face. (It helped that I was able to prove I was right!)

For many of us taking a risk such as ski-diving pales in comparison to the risk of speaking our truth or god-forbid really taking a long look at what is going on with our lives and why we have lost the passion and zest for living we once had. It is terrifying to sit with our feelings and be still. By far the hardest assignment and the one most often ignored that I give clients and workshop participants is to sit quietly for 10-20 minutes and just focus on your breathing. Why is that the hardest action to take? Perhaps because that short space of time is about stopping and facing truth and feelings. The one thing we must do is the hardest to face.

So are you willing to pay the price of risk-taking in order to have a passionate life? Can you keep growing your comfort zone and learn to venture out of it regularly to expand and really live? If you are still reading this then I think you are! So join me in scaring yourself everyday. Remember you can always run on back to your place of comfort, catch your breath and then take some more risks. Start today!

Challenge:

1. What truth do you need to face that you have been avoiding?

2. Do you feel passionately alive?

3. What risk will you take today?