Dear Fear,

Have you ever thought of writing your fear a letter? Or giving your fear an opportunity to write a letter to you?

I was listening to an audio masterclass by Elizabeth Gilbert called Creative Living Beyond Fear. In this masterclass she addresses fear as an impediment to our creativity and how to acknowledge the fear, give it the space it needs to be heard and accept that it is a part of us AND it does not need to be the part of us that makes any decisions.

This was an enlightening idea for me. For much of my life I have been debilitated by fear. Fear of not fitting in, fear of not having enough money, fear of failing, fear of truly being seen, fear of heights, fear of suspension bridges....the list goes on and on.

What if all I had to do to move through the fear was to just simply acknowledge that it is there, it has a purpose and be grateful for it while still making decisions to move forward in spite of it?

Elizabeth presents an opportunity for you to allow your fear to write you a letter. she prompts you to pull out your journal and her instructions begin. SO I pull out my journal and at the top of the page I write:

Dear Stephanie, I am your fear and this is what I want to tell you.....

Then I simply allowed my pen to write - allow my fear to speak to me.

I have used this practice quite a few times in the past few months. The need for this practice has come up time and time again as I continue to step into things in my life that are terrifying. I have had so much fear and anxiety about speaking and being on stage that I knew I had to find a way to process the emotions that I was having. I have now spoken on two topics that are near and dear to my heart. I feel extremely emotional, proud, honoured and in all honesty terrified to be putting myself out there in this way.

I joke that I have let all my skeletons out of my closet and there really is nothing that I have in my life that hasn't already been spoken about, written about and posted on social media AND for some reason, the idea of putting my physical self, my face out there in person is absolutely terrifying.

I have committed myself to a life of living courageously. A life of facing the fear, acknowledging its existence and its necessary place and having the courage to walk right through it. The importance of finding these practices that encourage us, give us the power and the tools to process are deal breakers in living a life of courage.

xo