Replace fear of the unknown with curiosity. Unknown
Recently I had a conversation with my oldest redhead about this very topic. When we are afraid of the unknown we shrink back, become unwilling to take risks, drag our feet, make excuses, become very very quiet. And usually what's going on in our head is all the "what ifs" we can think up and create about the unknown. I've noticed those "what ifs" aren't positive, they always seem to run to the negative and the extreme.
But what if.
What if we decided to tell the fear of the unknown to take a hike and we decided to be curious about the thing that has us all wound up? What if we decided to go for it, take a risk, see what happens? What if it turns out spectacularly? What if! What if the unknown wasn't as scary as our fear has created it to be?
I'm so proud of my oldest. We talked about this topic. I gave her some advice that sounded pretty much like this, "You just have to jump in and do it and see what happens." And then I left her alone about it. I wanted her to think about it and make the decision to do it, not let it be mine to make for her. And guess what? She did it. And when I asked her, "So was it as scary as you thought it would be?" She said, "Well it was hard." And I said, "Sure it was but you did it." And then she said the thing that told me she had conquered the fear and allowed curiosity to do its work. "By the end of the school year I want to have several big pieces. That's my goal." (She's an artist and her fear of unknown was related to pieces bigger than she's ever done before.) I'm so proud of her. She let curiosity lead her down a wider path that will only benefit her in the future.
What about you? Heck, what about me? Will we let curiosity do it's work and remove our fears of the unknowns in our lives? What if!
Recently I had a conversation with my oldest redhead about this very topic. When we are afraid of the unknown we shrink back, become unwilling to take risks, drag our feet, make excuses, become very very quiet. And usually what's going on in our head is all the "what ifs" we can think up and create about the unknown. I've noticed those "what ifs" aren't positive, they always seem to run to the negative and the extreme.
But what if.
What if we decided to tell the fear of the unknown to take a hike and we decided to be curious about the thing that has us all wound up? What if we decided to go for it, take a risk, see what happens? What if it turns out spectacularly? What if! What if the unknown wasn't as scary as our fear has created it to be?
I'm so proud of my oldest. We talked about this topic. I gave her some advice that sounded pretty much like this, "You just have to jump in and do it and see what happens." And then I left her alone about it. I wanted her to think about it and make the decision to do it, not let it be mine to make for her. And guess what? She did it. And when I asked her, "So was it as scary as you thought it would be?" She said, "Well it was hard." And I said, "Sure it was but you did it." And then she said the thing that told me she had conquered the fear and allowed curiosity to do its work. "By the end of the school year I want to have several big pieces. That's my goal." (She's an artist and her fear of unknown was related to pieces bigger than she's ever done before.) I'm so proud of her. She let curiosity lead her down a wider path that will only benefit her in the future.
What about you? Heck, what about me? Will we let curiosity do it's work and remove our fears of the unknowns in our lives? What if!
Comments
Post a Comment