Have you ever come up close to a big, exciting turning point in your life and you freeze up? You may be excited for the new change and you may have been planning for it for months or even years, but when the time comes to “push the button” and make the change, crazy things start to happen.
Your brain scatters like confetti in the wind.
You have a sudden urge to eat everything in the pantry.
You would rather clean toilets than “push the button.”
I feel like that today. I sat down this morning, determined to write out three pre-planned blog posts and I got ZERO finished. I did everything but actually write in the five hours I had to work today.
Why? I’ve been asking myself that very question all day. And truthfully, I know the answer.
Because there are big changes coming. I’ve been working and thinking and planning for months to grow my blog into a business that will make a difference, but just as I was about to “push the button” to set the change in motion, a cold wind blew up my spine and I froze up.
I’m nervous as all get-out that I’ll fail.
Offering Yourself is Vulnerable
One of the most vulnerable things you can do is offer yourself to others. It can be so scary to put yourself out there that you decide you’d rather hide. I hid for a very long time. Here are a few of the thoughts that kept my offering behind closed doors:
- Will my friends think I’m crazy if I do this?
- Will people assume I think I’m better than them because I share my thoughts?
- Will they misunderstand or misconstrue what I say?
- Will they judge me or reject me?
- Will they accuse me of things that aren’t true?
The list goes on and on so long that I wrote a book about it. The anxiety that comes with fears like these can paralyze a person or even send them running in the opposite direction.
You’ll be OK
But if there’s anything I need to hear right now, if there’s anything I could share with you about offering yourself, it’s this: You’re going to be OK.
As scary as each of the above scenarios sound, there is something even more scary. If we allow ourselves to stay frozen in fear, we will never offer the fullness of who we are to the world. We may never even know what the “fullness of who we are” even is.
Not everyone will receive what you have to offer, but there is someone out there who needs it. Is it your child? Your spouse? Your friend? Your client? Who is suffering because you are frozen in fear?
Love them more than you fear them and you’ll find out that even if your fears come true, you’re going to be OK.