How I Became Fearless in One Day

Fear. Dan Peña says he doesn’t have any. How do you get to that point?

Fear is an ugly thing, a limiting thing. I know our brains are wired to protect ourselves and therefore “fear” comes alive to stop us from doing the thing that might harm us, but it really is a ball and chain.

But there’s freedom when you push past it. Do you believe that?

Most things we’re afraid of aren’t as bad as we think they are… or will be.

A couple of years ago, my dad, husband, and I went dirt bike riding and ATV riding. I rode the ATV.

For the first 30 mins to an hour, I was going kinda slow because I was afraid of running into something, losing control, running off the road, flipping the ATV, etc.

So I stayed safe. Sure, it was fun, but I knew there were speeds I really wanted to reach but probably wasn’t going to that day…

until I flipped and rolled down a hill with my ATV.

That was the best part of the day. It broke all the mental blocks.

We were going up a semi-steep area with large rocks to climb. The dirt bikes could climb it fine. My ATV could have, but in order to avoid a higher rock, I shifted a little to the right where there were lower ones. That put me on a slant that resulted in me and my ATV rolling down the side of a hill.

I flew off and landed underneath a mesquite bush. I immediately looked up and saw that it was one flip away from rolling onto me, so I quickly put my foot up and mashed against it to stop it.

My husband came running down to check on me. Meanwhile, my father was totally fine staying with his dirt bike - "She's fiiine..." lol

My husband flipped my ATV back over and we got to riding again. After that, my speeds were through. the. roof.

I was jumping hills, going turbo around curves… I became fearless -- because the worst thing that I thought could happen, did happen.

I love that lesson, but I wish I could figure out how to make myself push past that point. I would not have chosen to flip my ATV. If I hadn’t, that day wouldn’t have been near as awesome as it was – and I wouldn’t have booked a Ford commercial a few months later that required a girl riding an ATV.

So, how do we do that willingly? How do we recognize fear (the easy part) and then push/convince/bribe ourselves to face it head on?

In most circumstances, that answer is probably just to “do the thing”. Do the thing that’s causing you fear. Do the public speaking. Do the first event. Sell the first item. Ask that one neighbor. Walk into that gym. Do – the – thing.

In other circumstances, maybe that answer is “do as much as you can”. Push as hard as you can in this moment. Talk to yourself as much as you need to in this moment. Pray and much as you need. Conjure up that courage, even if it’s momentary.

But I know what the answer is not. The wrong answer is to do nothing and let fear dominate your life, my life.

I heard this recently:

“Fear establishes the limits of your life. The bigger your fear, the smaller your life. If you’re scared of failure, you’ll never do anything.”

That spoke volumes to me. I hope it does to you, too.

Fear is a real thing, but let’s stomp on it so that it’s the voice that speaks least in our lives.

Another quote I love: “If you can beat that voice in your head, you can do anything.”

Don’t let fear stop you from living,
Venus