Every summer as I was growing up, my family would pile into our Ford station wagon loaded with camping gear and head for some state or national park. As we walked the park trails and stopped at the vista points, I would walk right up to the edge and peer over at what lay beyond or below. My Mom’s hand was often felt holding onto the waistband of my shorts for fear that I might check out whether or not I could actually fly. These moments exhilarated me and terrified my Mother.
Over the years that same curiosity has brought me to the edge of where things feel safe and progress into feeling scary. Undertaking the Global Seva Challenge, India in 2012 with the aim to raise $20,000 brought back that feeling of bordering on the fearful edge of the unknown. This place is slightly different to the primal fear of plunging over a cliff, yet it all boils down to the same basic instinct.
The fundraising experience was a new one for me: taking the seed of an idea, growing it into an actual plan with the support of my community and actualizing the goal into reality. The most terrifying part of it was feeling of opening myself to not only judgment but failure. I could flop. I could fall short of the goal. People could think that I have no idea what I’m doing. What was I thinking?
So why do it? Why risk failure?
Why not! It’s the experience as a whole, regardless of the outcome that is a fantastic teacher. It offered an entirely new set of challenges and, hopefully, opportunities. We have a limited amount of time to change not only our own lives, but impact the lives of others. So why wait until it feels safe and holds no fear.
If we relate it to our asana practice in yoga, it’s that moment of experiencing our first handstand, headstand or shoulder stand. When the support of the wall is no longer there and we’re holding ourselves upside down all by ourselves! It’s not as though one day we just decided to turn ourselves head over heals and found complete success and ease. All poses are built on a foundation and a set of progressions. We go through the basics to reach into a deeper place of each pose and one day we find ourselves upside down.
Fear is what keeps us in check. It’s what steps in front of us and says, “hang on a minute…are you sure you want to go there?” When we can face the scary moments in our lives such as relocating, quitting our job, releasing a CD, raising $20,000 or kicking up into a handstand, it’s as though we can acknowledge the inherent fear and ask it to simply step aside.
So what fearful voice is sitting in front of you at the moment? Have you laid the foundation to be able to feel the fear and do it anyway? Go on, step up to the edge and challenge yourself!
