I was so scared. And then I realised this….

Last Friday I got a call from an executive based in London.
She said she wanted to fly in her top managers from all over Europe to come and work with me. In a specially-designed program. Oh, and they were all British and American with flawless English. Oh, and they have all been trained in standard communication skills before. I had to design something next level that would blow them away.

Okay.
But…maybe not okay.

After I hung up, I checked in with myself.
And I felt something very strong, something that was nearly unfamiliar because I had not felt it in so very long,

I felt FEAR.
Yes, I was afraid.

And then I checked in with myself again,
I dug deeper.
Why was I afraid?

I remembered that in ancient Hebrew, there are many words for ‘fear’, but 2 of them are prominent- ‘pachad’ and ‘yirah’.

Pachad is fear of the unknown. It’s fear of what might or could happen. It’s emotional, hypothetical, and based in the future.

Yirah is fear of taking up more space than you are used to. It’s fear of greatness, comparable to awe or excitement. It’s being afraid of your own success.

And then I realised.
I was feeling yirah. I was afraid that this would be a huge game changer in my career. A turning point, so to speak.

Had I ever done anything like this before?
No.
Did I accept her challenge?
Yes.

I had a good talk with myself about what I was really afraid of.
I was not afraid to fail.
I was afraid to SUCCEED.

So, the next time you feel nervous or afraid, check in with yourself.
What are you really afraid of?

Once you face that, you will know the right action to take.

Play big.
No one ever scored sitting in the bleachers.
Get out there, far away from everything you might know and trust, kiss your comfort zone goodbye, and go for it.

I sure will!
I’ll let you know how it goes.

With love,
A yirah-saturated Buffi

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