As Spiritual Business owners, we face this every day. I can also safely say that I have been guilty of the first far longer than the second meaning.
I found that when we are confronted with the unknown, what often happens is that we tread the familiar path and do our best to push past our fears, and this is where I made my mistakes. Pushing against these fears puts us into a crisis mode, anxiety attack or even worse – giving up all together.
I was so guilty of not being properly prepared when I have gone to networking meetings. Things like practicing my intro in different ways, how I approached people, and even having my handouts ready the night before. Far too often I was printing up stuff last minute in the morning or evening before the event because this “FEAR” had made me doubt myself and my mission here.
This “Fear” made me hang back from engaging in conversations with others, get jumbled up with my words or, worst of all, let me ramble on while I watched the other person’s eyes wander as to where they could escape to. I was not prepared or not practiced in my delivery of who I was or how I could help them. I kept finding myself getting frustrated with myself and then totally delated when I got back home. I was guilty of not really thinking or understanding of how people reacted to me or my business and certainly not acknowledging of just how far I had come in my healing. This also showed up in my website and all my copy for quite a while.
Then along came inner critic that only I could hear that kept me on the never-ending loop of mentally beating myself up. This kept happening for some time until I decided to face my fear and really understand what was happening. This inner critic kept me in the negative aspect of the meaning and when I finally decided to face what was really happening I began to take action in a different way.
When I realized that I was in judgement of myself which I hated about others, I decided to embark on a different path. When I saw that these people were mirroring what I needed to see in myself, my big shift started to happen. I then chose to look at my “FEAR” in a different way; took action in a different way, and my business and life blossomed into a new creation. I began to write down all myfears and see if they were real or was this just a big excuse that I used to keep myself in that comfort zone.
What did I need to do to see myself differently? I took action and got educated in looking at myself in the mirror; starting making videos that no one saw but me, really listening to how I sounded and by doing this I got a huge wake-up call when I watched my videos back. I got help making videos, I asked for help with my marketing from a friend as to how to get myself into Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. I got involved in online challenges where I was in a group with people, and this made a difference for me when I saw I was not the only one with my issues as a business owner.
So now I can truly say that I am embracing the latter meaning of the word “FEAR” – Face Everything And Rise. By changing my beliefs about myself, my business, my visibility and how far I had come, made a huge difference for me. So is it time to ask yourself which meaning is running your business?
As usual, here are some new beliefs that worked for me:
- My actions are rooted in a clear vision for my business.
- I easily adapt to change in my business.
- This business gives me the perfect opportunities to grow and learn.
