Fear has never been a big issue for me. That’s not to say I’ve never been afraid. I’ve definitely been afraid. I’ve just never been one let fear control me.
The last 2 months have put me to the test, though.
It all started with my scheduled appearance to speak at WEVA, the Wedding & Event Videographers Association convention. I was to present a seminar to my colleagues and I hadn’t spoken in front of a crowd in nearly 20 years, and that was just a high school speech class.
Despite major anxiety and the fact that I completely re-tooled my seminar the afternoon before, I took the stage and my presentation was a success. When I originally agreed to present the seminar months before, I already knew I didn’t want to do it. But I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason, and the opportunity to share my knowledge and help others seemed like one of those opportunities that just had to be accepted. So completely on faith and raw nerve, I agreed. Sometimes the only way to overcome fear is to force yourself into something.
The week after WEVA I encountered my 2nd major challenge. Ever since I was 6 years old I hated playing short stop in baseball. I loved playing outfield, but as a child I was forced to play short stop and just seemed to have a knack for drawing bad bounces and getting hit with the ball. Over the years, playing short stop became a mental hurdle.
Fast forward to a week after WEVA and I’m playing softball for a rec-league team and they have me playing short stop on the team. Nearly 30 years later and the hurdle is still there, but I’m overcoming it. Then I get hit a hard one-hopper that jumps and catches me right between the eyes. My nose is broken and I end up with some nasty lacerations that later required stitches. The pain was nothing compared to the reconfirmation of my childhood fear.
Once again, I felt it was a fear that I needed to overcome, so I stayed in the game and stayed at short stop. Through the pain, bleeding, bandages and fear, I managed to make a spectacular leaping play at short stop near the end of the game. The entire time I was out there I was plenty afraid. Mentally, it was one of the toughest things I’ve ever done. Once again it was faith and nerve that got me through it.
A few weeks later I was scheduled to film a short film that I had written. I was scared to death because it was something I had never done. It had already been canceled once because of rain, and now it was in danger of being canceled again because of heat. I won’t lie. There was a part of me that wanted an easy out. I was scared to fail at something that was so personal.
For the third time I just relied on faith and nerve and gave the shoot the green light. As with most fears, once you commit and you’re in it, it’s not as scary as you imagined. Well, maybe short stop is.
So as I already mentioned, I believe everything happens for a reason. Each of these situations had a reason of it’s own, but after several weeks I felt there was a bigger reason involved. The combination of events was just too convenient.
So I’m putting this blog post out there for the rest of you. There is someone out there facing a fear in their life and it’s time to overcome it. Maybe this post is for you. I would encourage you to take on your fear. Overcoming fear is one of the best ways to enrich your life and increase your success and happiness.
But how do you do it? Well first you need inspiration. Hopefully I’ve given you some of that today. Second, you need to find an opportunity to face your fear. Third, and most importantly, you need to commit to face your fear. If you’re afraid of public speaking, agree to speak publicly. If you’re afraid of ground balls, agree to play infield. If you’re afraid of personal failure, agree to a personal challenge. Don’t think about it for one more second. Just say ‘yes’, and figure the rest out later.
That leads me to what you could call, the ‘sum of all fears’. All of these fears I’ve faced lately have led up to us relocating to Miami, Florida. The prospect of packing up your life and the business you’ve spent 8 years nurturing, and heading all the way across the country to a brand new climate, culture and business market is pretty overwhelmingly daunting. But after facing so many fears lately, it’s now just another thing to overcome. And tomorrow we move into our new building in Miami after more than a year of planning and waiting.
You see, once you learn to commit to overcoming something, you free yourself to accomplish so much more. I won’t lie, it’s not an easy thing to do. Most things worth doing aren’t. But the reward is so worth it. So for whoever this blog post is for, I wish you all the faith and raw nerve that you need. Just don’t think twice about it and commit. Good luck!
post by | Travis
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