That Scary Thing Around the Corner

Have you ever felt yourself stuck due to a fear of “what’s around the corner?” I did today.

My hubby, Charlie, and I live on top of a mountain in northeast Georgia and we’ve been in a winter storm for the last two days. In fact, we lost all electricity in our home for about 14 hours due to ice-laden trees breaking and pulling down power lines. And when you lose power up here, you lose water because we are on a well. And when you lose water, you lose toilets, etc. But I can deal with all of that.

What had me frozen today was wondering whether we could get safely down the mountain to go to the gym. I don’t know why I was afraid. My hubby had gone down yesterday to our coffee company around midday and got back home safely. However, there were areas on our road that I knew were still icy. As I contemplated whether I wanted to get in the car or not, all I could imagine were the slippery slopes of our one-lane dirt road and I almost became frozen.

My mind went to those questions like, “What’s around the corner?” Or, “What happens if…?” You get my drift. And these would all be reasonable questions except that I knew Charlie had already made this trip.

So I made a decision to be adventurous and got in the car.

We had about 100 yards of slushy road and then when we turned the corner, the road was simply dirt. No ice. No snow. Nothing but clear road.

That’s when I laughed.

This is what we do to ourselves. We get caught in the fear of what’s around the corner and get frozen. But if we’d simply trust and take those first few steps, we would realize there is nothing to fear except the tricks our minds play on us!

Is your mind playing tricks on you? Are you stuck in fear? Are you afraid of “that thing” around the corner, whatever that thing is? What would it feel like if you took some tiny steps of trust?

Are you willing to take those steps today?

What’s holding you back from being on a grand adventure?

I’ve been working with people for many years now and helping them heal their fears. I can tell you more often than not, they usually laugh at their fears once they get on the other side of them.

It all comes down to how you see the fear. Are you going to allow it to keep you frozen? Or are you going to see it as some big adventure and embrace whatever that “scary thing” is around the corner?

What I know for sure is that no matter what lurks around that corner, it will be a gift. When you make a decision to step out of fear and step into an adventure, there will be ample opportunities for you to learn and grow, just like my adventure was today when I made a decision to get in that car and face the slippery slopes of our one-lane dirt road.