Face Your Fear With These 2 Questions & You Will Never Have to Run Away Anymore
Don’t let fear rub you of your audacity.
‘Oh my gosh, that’s so cool. Sure let’s do it’
I said to Emelda Ojukwu over the phone as she suggested we start a podcast.
We spent the next half hour brainstorming what it would be about, what we would call it, whether it would be an audio or video podcast, to have guests or not to have guests.
However, after the phone call, the dread started to set in.
My stomach rumbled, the palpitations loud in my ears.
I was scared.
But I have a system for when I am scared. A response protocol that kicks in to help me face my fear when my default is to run away.
Remember, fear is normal and most times it’s not under your control.
What’s under your control is the response — fight or flight in the presence of your fright. (That’s a tongue twister right there)
My response protocol to fear is a 2 part question
- What am I scared of?
- What’s the downside of trying?
What am I scared of?
What am I going to talk about on a podcast?
What will my voice sound like?
Recording myself talking feels cringe.
What if no one watches it?
What if people actually watch it?
I took a step back and analysed my fears.
They were all based on what people would think. None of my fears were actual genuine concerns about myself and my ability to host a podcast.
After all, one upside of the 21st century and social media is the revelation that most things don’t need much skill to be done. It needs audacity.
Half the podcasts out there are running on caffeine and audacity. Anyone and their grandmother can run a podcast.
The skill needed can be learned for the cost of watching an Ad on YouTube.
So what am I scared of?
What’s the downside of trying?
What do I lose by starting a podcast? I couldn’t think of 1 downside.
It got me thinking of a statement I heard on the Naval podcast (how meta).
In this day and age, the barriers to entry are few, the downsides are even fewer.
Rather, I am more likely to have regrets if I don’t try. People tend to regret what they didn’t do more than what they did.
If 10 years from now, a teenager said to me they wanted to start a podcast, would I find myself saying —
- Ahhh, I remember when I wanted to start a podcast.
- Or do I want to say; I remember when I started a podcast. This was my experience. These were my challenges.
One of those statements is tinged with regret and I would rather avoid regret even before it happens.
We go through life wanting to, wanting to, and then holding ourselves back.
What are the downsides of trying? The worse that could happen is, it sucks. But as Ayodeji Awosika said in one of his latest write-ups, nothing bad ever happens to a writer.
If the podcast sucks, you bet I would be back here telling you guys what a colossal failure it was.
No longer scared
What if my voice doesn’t sound nice? or my face is wonky on camera? or no one watches it?
So what? It’s going to be an experience for me. The mere experience is the reward. Something I will look back on in ten years and reminisce about rather than regret not doing.
It’s time we start justifying our fear by challenging it.
There will be times when our fears will be wise, and we can justify running away, like if we come face to face with a tiger. But sometimes, our fear can be for foolish reasons born of past traumas or socialised behaviour patterns.
What will people think yen yen yen?
Who gives a flying f***k. (Apt that I censored a curse word while saying I didn’t care what people thought. But I want to be mindful of your delicate sensibilities. I am bold, not callous)
What about you?
What has fear stopped you from doing before?
Do you regret it?
Were you able to come back around to face off with that fear?
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