How to Beat Fear and Procrastination

I spoke with the Firegirls this morning about emotional fear and why people get so trapped by it.

IMHO - it’s an imperfect understanding of how fear works.

The problem with fear is that our cavemen brains haven’t evolved to manage it very well and they will do whatever it takes to chase us back into safety. Nausea, shaking knees, hyperventilation, panic, mental chaos, etc, all of which FEEEEEEL terrible.

Most folks think the answer lies in WAITING for those feelings to pass before making a move. The truth is, the feelings don’t pass, they just settle down until the next time you decide to turn off Netflix and change your life.

This pattern ensures no moves are made year after year, which is a sure-fire path to self-loathing over time.

At GCF, we accept that any time we’re doing something new, we WILL feel fear in our bodies, and in fact, it would be weird if we didn’t.

Basically, we have only two choices: Succumb to the feeling and back off or accept it, and jump. That’s it.

Most people agree, the scariest part of the roller-coaster is the climb, but once the drop happens, fear is usually replaced with exhilaration, laughter, hysteria, etc. The same will be true for you when you finally decide to jump and discover the windup was scarier than the fall.

So maybe it’s time to stop winding up, to quit waiting to not FEEEEEEEL afraid, and instead, just accept that you do and jump. This is how you build courage.

BTW - Having a solid tribe and a guide for your big jump helps a lot. We begin a new round of jumping lessons in April.