In this episode, join us as we dive into the art of recognizing and conquering the fears that hold you back, empowering you to step into inspired action with your dreams and goals. Discover a simple technique that will help you overcome your fears and unlock your fullest potential.
About your host:
I’m Anita Adams, your host, and the founder of Joyful Inspired Living, an organization dedicated to guiding individuals toward their authentic selves for a life of purpose, passion, and joy. Alongside hosting the Joyful Journey Podcast, I offer transformative retreats, workshops, and coaching programs to unlock inner wisdom. Connect with me via email and explore our community on our website, Facebook Group, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Your support means the world to us! Join our community of Joy Makers, share with friends, and leave us feedback. Subscribe for updates and consider leaving a review to help others discover us. Thank you!
A joyful journey I need to Adams here your host and today we're going to talk about how to step into inspired action. When you are crippled by fear. Every decision you make shapes your reality, and your destiny, every action or inaction has a consequence. It's those decisions that come from taking no action that are most dangerous as they have the potential to rob you of your dreams and your joy. More often than not, it is fear that holds us back from making a decision and taking action. So instead, we stay stuck, locked in indecision. I recently experienced this with the publication of my book whispers of the soul. You see, it had been done for some time, I had gone through multiple edit edits and rewrites, and it was at a place I felt really good about. And yet it sat there on my computer collecting digital dust. I thought about it almost every day, but I wasn't doing a thing to move forward with getting it out into the world. Fear was holding me back. And as I discovered that fear was multilayered. The first fear was of doing something wrong, I felt stuck because I was worried that the next step I needed to take, I do incorrectly and somehow mess up everything I worked so hard to create. That next step was to open a KDP account and upload the book to Amazon. If you've ever published a book on Amazon, you know how ridiculously easy this is to do. But I was paralyzed with fear about doing something wrong, and consequently sat back on my laurels and allowed the months I mean months to drift past. Finally, my inner coach stepped up and challenged my belief. Do you really think you can undo all the work you've already done in writing this book by uploading it to Amazon? Well, no, I guess not. I found myself responding. It's not like I'm gonna lose it. Okay, great. So what's really holding you back and EDA asked my inner coach. That's when I began to unravel the Layers of Fear. There was fear of judgment and criticism, fear of failing miserably, and no one wanted to buy my book, and fear of success. It turns out, this was the biggest fear of all. My dream of becoming an international best selling author and a world class speaker was wrapped up in this blanket of fear of success. If I achieved my dream, I wondered, will it change my life? Will it ruin my marriage like it just about did last time? You see I've been in this position before. In the early days of my film business, I hit a level of success, and it did impact my life in a negative way. I became seduced by that success, which led to actions that just about destroyed my marriage. Fortunately, I managed to pull myself back from the edge of the abyss and corrected my ways, but it wasn't without a lot of pain, followed by years of relationship, work, and recovery. This fear has deep roots. But like any fear, it can be overcome. Here's what I did, to step back into inspired action with my dreams, and what you can do too, if you ever feel stuck. First, let's address the fear of getting it wrong. What I've come to understand is that this fear is like a masking fear. It hides the deeper and more prevalent fears. But this fear can still derail your dreams. And it's one that many don't get past. What we must learn to accept is that wrong is an illusion. There is no such thing as wrong. There is just different ways to do things. And each way comes with lessons. If one way doesn't get you the desired results, consider what you've learned from that experience, and then try another path. Yes, some ways will get you to where you want faster. But the lessons you've learned by traveling your unique path will always serve you well on your journey. You can also resort the wisdom of others who have traveled the path before you and ask them for guidance. That's what I did to help get me unstuck with writing my book and getting it not writing my book, but getting my book onto Amazon. Sometimes a little hand holding on your path is exactly what you need. Now let's address how to move past that those deep rooted fears. First, you must seek to understand your fears. This will likely take a bit of work and time. That work involves going inward and gently probing by asking yourself clarifying questions. Questions like, what do I feel? What scares me about doing this? Allow the answers to bubble up without judgment. Be kind with yourself. Don't be dismissive of anything that crops up. You can challenge yourself, though, challenge the beliefs by questioning. Is that true? That's exactly what I did with the fear that I might get something wrong with uploading my book to Amazon, and somehow destroy what I created. It was by challenging that fear that opened the door to discovering deeper fears. In order to find clarity, you need to give yourself mental space to explore your fears. I recommend taking these probing questions with you on a mindful walk in nature. Before diving into the internal questions, though, take a few minutes to get present. Here's how I recommend that you do that. Once you are outside in nature, take three deep cleansing breaths to ground yourself. Follow this with a short gratitude practice. Identify three things you are grateful for in your personal and professional life. And three things you are grateful about your character attributes. This practice helps to elevate your mood. Then connect with your environment using all of your senses. What do you see, hear, smell, and even taste in the air? Do these things will help quiet the incessant chatter of your mind. It'll get you deeply present to to hear the whispers of your soul. This is when you can go inward and ask your questions. Remember to listen to what bubbles up without judgment. Upon returning from your walk, journal to go deeper with your understanding. This is how you can powerfully move past any fear that is holding you back from taking action with your dreams and goals. This is an inward looking journey of really getting to know and understand who you are. It's a beautiful journey and one that leads to a deep love and acceptance of self. And of course, it will also guide you to step into inspired action with your dreams and goals. Joyful journeyer I wish you the greatest success and happiness on your unique path to the greatest version of you in your life. If you need a little hand holding like I did reach out, I'd be delighted to be your guide. Thanks for tuning in. And we'll catch you next time. Bye for now.
