About fear

Fear can be awesome.

To me, fear is the little warning in my belly that something amazing is about to happen.

The first time I truly felt it, I was leaving France for England. I was 23 years old, it was the end of my first contract job, and I left Lausanne for Reading in a very old tiny red car, with no job and only a phone number to rent a room in a house.

I had a very paralysing feeling (dread) right in the middle of my belly, something that made it very hard to breath. But it happens that I am a ridiculously stubborn person, so I swallowed my fear, and just went for it, pretending that everything was fine and hiding my hair standing on end under a scarf.

It was the beginning of the first self growth experience of my life!

Of course, not all the fears are this kind, that is why it is very important to recognise it.

For me, this fear manifests like a weighted burning ball of void that gives me a feeling of emptiness and heaviness at the same time, right in my solar plexus.

This ball is pressing on my diaphragm and my stomach, making it terribly hard to breath or eat.

With this first experience, I learnt that this feeling was not something I had to avoid or dread. Indeed, living in England was a great experience, full of eyes opening situations, meeting with people from all over the world, and learning how to be independent. It was often scary, but always interesting.

The next time it happened, the next time I could feel this weight in my stomach, it was easier. I was actually quite curious to discover where it would lead me. And again, it made me grow, and take a big step on my path.

And it kept happening, and it kept making me dare new things, growing and expanding! And the more I experience it, the more it happens!

For me, this fear I feel is the perfect opportunity to let go of control, it is the moment I know I have to trust the universe and take a leap of faith.

It is the moment I know that I am on the right path. That I am getting out of my comfort zone.

Now I love to live on the edge of fear. I breath into it, I soften into it. Every time I do it, my borders expand, my univers grows!

Next time you recognise this feeling, breath deeply, and change it into curiosity and excitement, see it as the sign of great things to come.

Gail Larsen: “Fear is excitement without the breath”