The Desert of Arizona
Sunny 61 Degrees
Years ago, I had the great privilege of having my life path cross with a woman who I’ll refer to as a Celtic Shaman. That means pretty much what it sounds like. She was a shaman in the Celtic tradition.
I learned a lot during my years of study with her. And the path of my life was forever shifted. I learned about personal power. I learned about energy. I learned about dealing with your “shadow…” those parts of you you might wish DIDN’T exist but do. I learned about fear, the control it exerts on your life and what you can do about it. And I learned many other things that go much deeper.
Over the years, one idea kept coming up over and over again. It’s something I just couldn’t really be at peace with at the time. The idea was…
A Fear of Success.
Now on first hearing, my brain just couldn’t wrap itself around that idea as a possibility. Who in their right mind would be afraid of succeeding?
I certainly wasn’t. Right? You’re certainly not. Right?
Over the years, I’ve given a lot of thought to this. It just kept annoying me, like a rock in my shoe. I’ve slowly unravelled the mysterious ball that I couldn’t see into when I first started.
So let’s take a little walk…
When you dream of yourself as “successful, I’m guessing that the image of you in your mind is that of “you at your best.”
Now if you’re going to be the best version of YOU, that implies that you’re actually going to go out there and try to do that. So you’re going to give it your all.
And here’s where it gets a little complicated. Because what if you go do that and it doesn’t work out for you? What if you go out there and give it your all and fall flat… on… your… face?
But even worse… what if it DOES work out? Then what? Then you’ve shown the world the real you… you’ve revealed what you’re truly capable of. And from that point on, they will accept nothing less. That’s a lot of responsibility right there!
Boy, this success thing can sure create problems!
Isn’t it a whole lot MORE comfortable for your ego to simply never go to that edge? That way, you can keep that great story of what COULD be possible for you without ever actually having to test it.
If you go out there, give it your all, and THEN fail… then what? How do you recover from that one?
Your ego doesn’t have an answer to that. It’s scared to death of that day coming.
And it’s at this point where you get the chance to exert enormous control over your life. You can choose to move in the direction of that great unknown, or you can shrink back and stay small.
This is the point where you decide whether life happens to you or you happen to life.