Trying New Things Is Like A New Pair Of Shoes
Tony Robbins said: "If you do what you've always done, you will get what you've always gotten."
Life is full of firsts. We can't grow without them and there's one certainty. We can always count on the universe to place them in front of us. So why is it that we spend so much time avoiding new things even if we know they will help us reach our goals in life?
Let's face it, trying new things is scary and that fear often prevents us from becoming who we want to become and accomplishing what we want to accomplish. We are so afraid of falling on our faces, humiliating ourselves, being laughed at and most of all, what other people may think of us that we stay inside our safe little boxes. Some of us even install bumper pads.
Most people who know me now, would never suspect that I was once shy and insecure. I didn't start out that way as my six older siblings would attest. In my very early years I perfected being the center of attention and I was good at it!
When I was a teenager I had BIG dreams with small self esteem. I'd known that I wanted to be in the spotlight from a very young age. I'd played the Christmas Tree in the second grade holiday production and Snow White in a performance at a local church when I was eleven, but mostly I acted in the comfort of my own room.
As a teenager I decided that modeling was the way to go. I could get myself out there and never have to say a word to anyone and that sounded like a solid business plan. From there I entered a Beauty Pageant. Not the brightest idea I ever had. Keep in mind this was the eighties, I had not one curve on my stick like body and we were required to answer random questions of the judges choosing. So there I was with my big eighties hair, looking like a stick figure in a bathing suit with six inch stiletto heals which put me at about 6'2" and 120lbs and then came the question. Wait for it...
"What was your biggest fear about participating in this pageant?"
Now there were a lot of witty or thoughtful responses I could have pulled out at this point, "Everyone's been so nice here, It's just such an honor to be here, yadda, yadda, yadda." Those, were not my responses. My "World Peace" response was:
"Falling on my face or getting a run in my panty hose."
Yup! I was a sharp fifteen year old and as deep as a puddle. Every girl in line was doing the happy dance inside knowing at least one girl was out of the running...This girl. I had tried something new and it was an epic fail. I was embarrassed and humiliated. So what did I do next? I tried it again. Another pageant. I still didn't win, but I was better at it and my responses were well thought out. I hung up my Beauty Pageant shoes after that and would land a TV commercial shortly after. That was much easier and a lot more fun!
Trying new things is like a new pair of heals. My female friends (and a few of my male friends) know what I'm talking about. The first time you put on a great pair of heals, by the end of the day your feat are screaming! Funny thing is, the more you wear them, the more comfortable they become. It's like when you first learned how to ride a bike. You may have fallen off a few times. You may have even skinned your knee and cried, but you kept getting back on until you mastered it. You kept getting back on the bike because you wanted it bad enough to risk falling down.
That Beauty Pageant experience was the first step to a wonderfully fulfilling life for me. As a business leader and coach I stand up in front of people all the time. I've done TV and radio interviews and if I can inspire just one person in the crowd, then that makes up for the million times I fell on my face to get there!
Don't let your FEAR of new things stop you from all of the things that you want to accomplish!
You've got to get a little uncomfortable in order to grow. You've got to want it bad enough to risk falling down. So get out there and get a little uncomfortable, fall on your face, get humiliated, get laughed at and let others think what they want!
I promise...You will thank yourself later.
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Brilliant Kelly ... I would love to see the pageant photos!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Andrew! I believe those gems have been lost. That may not have been an accident!
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