Do it Afraid!

I finally mustered the courage to tell my wife about it. I wasn’t sure what her reaction would be. While explaining it to her, she gave me a blank stare, midway my mind almost froze; thinking this was the worst idea that day. But I made it through the end, and as I waited for her verdict, that minute seemed like an hour. After a few questions, she said, ‘Go for it dear, I believe you can do it…’ That felt great, she’s my number one fan! I was ecstatic. But it introduced a new dilemma. She was in it, but this idea was still vague. New fears emerged. Will the market like it? Will it work, will it have an impact? Will it fail?

Well, there was no going back now, I had already told my wife the idea and she was watching. So in the uncertainty and fear, I dove in. Over 100 lives influenced by the idea, a solid business structure and several follow up ideas later, I realize that it was the best decision to follow. Not the idea itself, but doing it afraid. Its almost as though I visited remote areas in my brain, all fresh and yearning to be used. The challenge was almost like going to war with an unknown enemy. But the rewards were so fulfilling. It gave me a new reason to wake up each morning; trying to figure out something I had never done before, with insufficient experience, time and resources.

The conventional way is to have some certainty, follow a script of best practices and leverage gained knowledge in the area of exploration. Nothing wrong with that, after all we gain knowledge to apply it in daily living. However, there’s an adventure in doing something instigated by our creative mind. I discovered that it helps us grow. Our minds long for the challenge that can only be achieved by stepping out of our comfort zone. But fear stands in the way, we doubt and talk ourselves out of it. I think that we gain a lot by exploring unchartered waters.  I’ve tried it more than once, and in other instances, I failed – terribly. However, some of our best lessons come from our failures.

One of the greatest ways to enjoy life is to keep our minds active, and we do that by stepping out of our comfort zone. We don’t have to know everything to get started. We learn a lot along the way, and that is a beautiful experience. It builds and develops us. But first, we have to go past the fear, uncertainty and security: learn to do it afraid.