Play In The Fear

I've always thought of fear as something to be managed, or even better, to be conquered. I've prided myself on my ability to leave my comfort zone and do the things I know I should be doing, not just the things that are easy for me.

And, I've lived by quotes such as, "Success is becoming increasingly comfortable with increasing levels of discomfort."

While this mindset has allowed me to grow and do things that I could have only dreamed of many years ago, I still found it limiting. I never knew why, but I still found myself struggling with fear. Then I had the opportunity to hear Shawne Duperon of ShawneTV speak last week. She made the observation that she can tell what challenges people will have on camera within 4 seconds of meeting them, and that those challenges always - ALWAYS - come down to how they manifest their fear. She advised to us to become comfortable (if that's the right word) with fear. "Play in the fear," she said.

Play in the fear.

Wow, I had never thought about that before. What a great take. In that moment, I realized that fear is not something to be conquered. Fear is actually something to be embraced. I don't have to do it despite of my fear - I get to do it because of my fear. What a transformation of the mind.

How do you embrace your fear? What are you doing to play with it?