The Fear of New Beginnings
Do you feel a bit anxious or worried,
Right before you’re going to try something new?
It is totally normal, you see,
Our brain interprets novel activities,
Such as our reaching for new goals,
As mistakes and/or possible threats!
Your brain sends out danger alert messages,
Throughout your body,
You feel anxiety and/or fear and,
May experience different,
Physical and emotional reactions,
You may feel pain in your chest,
Or difficulty breathing,
So that you are prepared…
For a state of emergency!
When in fact, all you want is,
To tackle a new life challenge,
What can you do?
You could DARE!
Yes, you could go ahead,
And do whatever it is,
You want to do,
Despite your discomfort,
Even though it will be difficult.
Will it be hard to dare?
Yes, the first time will be extremely hard…
However, there is a way to make it easier,
Break down your BIG goal,
Into smaller, more bite-size ones,
And then go for it!
Will your anxiety be activated?
Yes, but you know that it will,
This is just our body’s natural response,
However, as you push yourself to accomplish mini-goal A,
You’ll see that you can do it,
Mini-goal B doesn’t seem so far-fetched anymore…
You’ll still feel a bit nervous,
But again, you plan to achieve it,
Surround yourself with supporters,
Their cheers and encouragement will help,
Once you’ve mastered two mini-goals,
You’ll feel even stronger, ready for next mini-goal!
Do you see how it works?
Bit by bit, each small challenge,
Leads you to have the courage,
To surmount another mountain in your path,
Soon you’ll be able to view your anxiety,
As a mere friendly reminder that you need,
To prepare for future tests,
Not hide, avoid or postpone your goalposts,
You’ve learned that you have it in you,
To face the road ahead regardless of where it may take you.
So please start DARING today!
You don’t have a minute of the rest of your life to waste…
As some of you know, one of my three words for 2014 was Daring. I’ve started daring myself recently (perhaps I will disclose some details in a subsequent post or two) and it feels SO good !
What are your thoughts about fear and tackling new challenges? Is there a dream that you’ve been putting on hold that you might now consider breaking into more doable mini-goals? Please share your thoughts below 🙂
According to Linda Graham, we should dare to do something new each day!
Hello Dorlee,
Wow :: Your graphic (illustration) at the top is so vivid, laced with words like ‘courage, fear, dare, anxiety.’ Your poetic post then serves to knit together what the words all mean, how they interlace.
As you’ve been encouraging us to understand through your prior research and blog writings, our brain interprets ‘something new’ as ‘mistakes or possible threats.’ I think that is such an important lead-in to your post as we often misinterpret our fear of the ‘new’ as being a warning that we shouldn’t proceed.
Further, the idea of mini-goals is so smart and reasonable, and powerful. The smaller goals add up, sometimes bit by bit and sometimes it seems almost suddenly as if we’ve climbed a mountain in short order (even if it happened over the course of days, weeks, months or even years!).
DARE is such a wonderfully empowering and liberating word. I love witnessing your journey in employing the word ‘daring’ into your 2014. You sound invigorated, hopeful and motivated. And you are motivating others of us with your finely architected messages!
Thank you for opening up your heart, soul and learnings with us!
PS – Linda Graham’s suggestion that we dare to do something new each day has me thinking and pondering. What I like about that is, if we are having what may feel like an uninspired or dull (or even sad) day, just giving ourselves ‘permission’ to do one thing (no matter how small) that is daring (even if it’s as simple as sending a note to someone you’ve been dragging your feet on or, adding a new line of copy to your website that you were resisting adding because it was new or uncomfortable <– obviously this is the entrepreneur in me brainstorming), it can add an empowering, sparkly or otherwise invigorating feeling to that day!
Thanks again for all you do to educate, inform and inspire, Dorlee!
With respect and friendship,
Jacqui
Hi Jacqui,
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughtful reflections. I’m so glad that this poem comes across as both educating and inspiring. This means that it is achieving its goals, so to speak.
And yes, you have read me correctly, now that I have DARED, I am feeling invigorated, hopeful and motivated… In essence, I wanted to share that gift, that good feeling with anyone who is willing to try 🙂
I love your creative interpretation of Linda Graham’s suggestion of doing something new everyday: as a way of bringing a ray of sunshine to an otherwise cloudy day [she had suggested it merely for the purpose of building up our resilience, our ability to know that we can handle difficult/new things]. You are proposing doing it for the purpose of adding some additional happiness/innovation to your business – that sounds lovely, as well as wise – I say go for it!
With warmth and appreciation,
Dorlee
Dorlee,
Thank you! I really like Linda’s original intent for her suggestion, too. Thank you for expanding and clarifying for me. It’s funny how we often personalize what we read to fit our own situation (at least that’s what I did here). And, it makes great sense that building up resilience through doing something new every day is the goal with what she said. ‘Resilience’ is a word that I often have embraced.
Again, I’m pleased to continue reading your posts and appreciate your sharing your ‘gift’ (that good feeling of ‘daring’) with us, your audience, this week! Thank you for your openness and authenticity.
Warmly,
Jacqui
Jacqui,
I’m so glad that this poem resonated with you in such a meaningful and personal way.
You having extrapolated from it ideas of innovation or happiness suggest that the poem succeeded in drawing you in to its “story” to enable that type of personalization.
The story format is considered so powerful that many marketing experts are now recommending a story be included in every audience presentation so as to draw in the audience and enable the audience to envision themselves within the presented story [forging an emotional connection] – not that I write with such premeditated intention – I don’t know how else to write a poem. This is just the way the words flow out of me.
I’m so pleased that the resilience effect of trying something new everyday also resonates with you. Shoring up our banks of resilience in good times is a good thing because life is full of uncertainty and mountains to climb.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful and kind contributions to this post.
Warmly,
Dorlee
Dorlee, this post is full of great advice! Taking a big goal and dividing into smaller, more workable chunks does make the process seem less daunting. I like the idea of daring yourself. I will think that to myself. Thanks for the helpful post!
Yolanda,
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your kind feedback. I find breaking down a big goal (or task) into smaller, more feasible bites is such a helpful strategy across so many different areas (not just going after a big dream).
Best wishes,
Dorlee
Dorlee, I know you can hear me cheering you on as you stretch and reach, moving beyond that which feels comfortable into slightly more shaky, but oh-so-rewarding territory.
There is a strength that comes from being willing to be vulnerable, to fall, and to get up, again and again. Finally, there is the immense sense of satisfaction you have when you’ve achieved what you wanted to do.
Your poem effectively deconstructs the fortress of anxiety that is built to keep out the undesirable stuff. Unfortunately, the interesting, exciting and fun things also get locked out. Brick by brick, line by line, the walls of anxiety can come down. By using tools and techniques, you’re armed with wisdom and intuition which gives you the ability to look at life differently. A change in perception = a change in life.
Thanks so much, Marianna, for your enthusiastic cheering, as well as for your thoughtful reply.
You raise the important concept of resilience and how it (and one’s strength) only increase with one’s willingness to try and fail and try again in order to achieve one’s goal(s).
You also extend the conversation by pointing out just how much one can miss out if one doesn’t dare (or push through one’s fears/anxieties).
I also love your analogy of how “brick by brick, line by line, the walls of anxiety can come down.” It so aptly describes the process I was trying to illustrate via the poem :)
Lastly, I concur that using various tools/techniques such as the wonderful “auntistress” methods you share in http://auntiestress.com/category/31-days/ or cognitive reframing may assist in this process.
Warmly,
Dorlee
Wonderfully inspiring poem, Dorlee. I think the courage is there all along underneath. The “bit by bit” helps us sneak up on it. 🙂
Ronnie,
Thanks so much so much for your kind feedback and thoughtful addition.
I love your perspective that we all have courage inside of us just waiting to be expressed…
Hmm, I can almost feel another poem emerging in me wanting to play around with the concepts of courage, support and compassion. I think I will at a later point 🙂
Warmly,
Dorlee
Hi Dorlee: How creative to put these thoughts into a poetic form. I think you might consider submitting it to a journal or publication to publish. Many other people could benefit from reading this, and even loved ones might gain additional perspective.
It seems to me that you have been “daring” for quite a while….you share very sensitive wisdom to all of us readers — and you always speak the truth.
I always think of the Lion in Somewhere Over the Rainbow…(what was the name of that movie)? Jeesh, now I know I am really losing my marbles….I can’t even remember the name of the most famous movie of all time. Anyway – I love that lion who stands for courage. xoxo
Terry,
Aww, thanks so much… I hadn’t really thought of submitting my work to publications. That could be another daring opportunity to consider, though 🙂
Thank you for truly comprehending the messages I try to convey through my poetry and for acknowledging the inherent vulnerability and courage required to do so… You have just given me a wonderful gift.
In light of my having done this for some time, I think I have taken this bit of daring a bit for granted but I need to validate this for myself, as Dr Hanson would recommend, and let the good feeling wash over my body to truly let it in… so that I may use this as a positive resource/reminder to tap into when I need some support/courage to face a new risk.
Are you referring to the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? It’s not the most famous move or book of all time but it was a childhood classic in which the lion was very wise and stood for courage.
xoxo