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Is there FEAR in your new litter box? A bitter phrase that I resist is ‘the new normal’, because I will not accept what is currently, for what will be. This is temporary in my mind, and in the words of my favorite author, Og Mandino, “This too shall pass“and it will.
The other day I heard Marilyn Sherman of Front Row Leadership™ say “we need to get back to the new future” and it resonated very positively with me. I wanted to share that language with you. Return back to the new future it is something that gives us hope and empowerment to create what our future will be like. We have the reins, the brush, the plasticine… the vision and therefore the reality of what we want to create for ourselves.
Last week I worked with a fearful person who said “feeling imprisoned, afraid to leave his house, afraid of contracting the virus…”, etc. I also interviewed several employers who are working on reopening, whose staff are afraid to come to work. (I think some people are getting too comfortable with their ‘aid subsidy’, which scares me because it’s not sustainable, and will create a society of complacency and dependency, which is another topic for another blog post.)
Years ago, Jack Canfield, founder of Chicken Soup for the Soul, passed FEAR to me as an acronym for “Fake Experiences That Seem Real.”
This is valuable because when I’m afraid of going through something, I ask myself “What’s the worst that could happen?” Coming to the absolute worst gives me the confidence to take risks in case the fake experience that seems real actually happens. It rarely does, and the courage to move forward and create the best experience frees me from what once held me back.
In the lockdown of more than two months, we have been forming new habits. Some may be FEAR-based habits, like watching the news that keeps us scared. (We need to be informed, but we don’t need to be anxious.) Habits like not leaving the house, not going to work, will eventually come to an end if you want to return to the new future. What habits are limiting their growth and development?
Fear could also mean that we don’t know the big picture. We hear the bad news, the negative statistics, but what about the big picture?
There is a cost to living with FEAR, and a cost (risks) to going through it. Either way, there is a cost, so the most effective question would be “What outcome do I want?” and then “What should I do to get that result?”. For example, if you want to feel safe going to work, what do you need to have to feel safe? There are guidelines to properly and safely open our economy for business. There will always be risks, but living with FEAR will prevent you from getting the results you seek.
Read more about fake experiences that seem real and an activity that helps you list your fears to get clarity on what’s real and what’s not HERE.
I wish you courage and strength to live your highest potential right now. The world needs leaders who are cautious and courageous, not cautious and fearful.
Be brave, stay safe and let’s get through this together,
Penny