Now that pride month is coming to a close, we may diagnose ourselves as feeling
scared when what we really feel is excited. Often we have not been taught how
to welcome the thrill of a new opportunity, and so we opt to back off,
indulging our anxiety instead of awakening our courage. One way to inspire
ourselves to embrace the what comes next is to look more deeply into our
feelings and see that butterflies in our stomach or a rapidly beating heart are
not necessarily a sign that we are afraid. Those very same feelings can be
translated as excitement, curiosity, passion and even love.
There is nothing wrong with being afraid as long as we do not let it stop us
from doing the things that excite us. Most of us assume that brave people are
fearless, but the truth is that they are simply more comfortable with fear
because they face it on a regular basis. The more we do this, the more we feel
excitement in the face of challenges rather than anxiety. The more we cultivate
our ability to move forward instead of backing off, the more we trust ourselves
to be able to handle our lives beyond this festive month. When we feel our
fear, we can remind ourselves that maybe we are actually just excited. We can
assure ourselves that this opportunity has come our way because we are meant to
take it.
Framing things just a little differently can dramatically shift our mental
state from one of resistance to one of openness. We can practice this new way
of seeing things by saying aloud: I am really excited about what comes next. I
am excited to have the opportunity to do something I have never done before. As
we do this, we will feel our energy shift from fear, which paralyzes, to
excitement, which empowers us to direct all that energy in the service of
moving forward, growing, and learning.
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