I’d like to share a little story with you. Grab a cuppa and get comfy.
One of my hobbies is aerial hooping, I would call myself an aerialist which means I love hanging off shit in the air! At my studio, they also have other aerial equipment and poles. I dabble in pole, and I really mean dabble. I am not a poler.
One of my instructors and friend invited me to the midweek, daytime pole class. “Come, it’ll be fun!” she said. I booked in for both weeks because the class was titled “beginner’s pole”. I can totally do that, so I booked on. I saw her at my aerial class the night before and she told me, “Bring shorts tomorrow because we are climbing.”
CLIMBING?! WTF!
Well, the fear well and truly kicked in then. I started thinking of reasons not to do it:
and on and on my brain went telling myself stories about why I couldn’t possibly do it. I had a moment of clarity about an hour before the class and called myself out on my own BS.
“Cat, you never thought you could mount a hoop, and you can now not only manage mounting it unaided but you can roll around and around in it.”
“Cat, you never thought you could pass your driving test. You did it and passed first time.”
“Cat, you never thought you could run a successful business. Look at you now!”
I then started thinking of all the ways I had overcome things I had feared. Hmmm, maybe I should just go to the class.
Well, I did. Not only did I climb, I achieved seats with no spotting and only holding on with one hand. What did that tell me? Not to listen to that voice that tells me I can’t do it, because I bloody can!
Now, you’re probably thinking, yeah great, nice story but what has this got to do with me or money? A lot dear reader.
I want you to think about the things that fear is stopping you from doing or trying. And even bizarrely, we can even have a fear of being successful so deliberately play small. Is that you?
“If I don’t try hard enough at least I can say if I tried harder I could have done it.”
Wow, truth bomb right there!
What is fear stopping you from doing? How many times have you done something you have been scared of and succeeded?
- Is fear stopping you from sorting out your finances?
- Are you fearing being the odd one out in your group of friends? You won’t be able to laugh along and say, “Me too, I’m so shit with money”.
- Are you fearing actually working out the figures?
- Are you fearing being successful? It happens!
Think about this again… how many times have you done something you have been scared of and succeeded? What is the worst thing that could happen if you signed up to work with me? What would be the benefits of signing up to work with me? Yes there may be short-term uncomfortableness but there would definitely be long-term gains.
- Imagine not being worried about money.
- Imagine having the money to do the things you want to do.
- Imagine clearing your debt, imagine having savings.
- Imagine going on that holiday you really want to go on.
Stop letting fear be the loud voice in your head. Be brave, be courageous, stop letting fear stop you from achieving your goals.
PS I get it, it’s not easy. It’s flipping hard sometimes but we can’t let that hold us back.