I did it.
I finally took my 11th grade kid on a plane for a trip to somewhere unfamiliar to me.
You might be accustomed to traveling with your friends, your family, or kids if you have them, but I am not.
And it's not because I don't have the time or couldn't scrounge up the money to go somewhere exciting if I wanted to.
For a long time, I didn't know why I feared going away on my own.
I had some stories that made sense at different points in my life.
But the bottom line was this:
I wanted to have the courage to travel
And I didn't have it.
Why so stuck?
Because under all fear are these pesky CORE BELIEFS.
My travel fear is fueled by long-standing beliefs like:
😧 I am essential to the security of my family and leaving them would mean certain catastrophe.
😧 I am not brave enough, strong enough, smart enough, (enough, enough) to keep myself or my people safe.
Most of you know how that story ended.
(Cliff notes: My husband died and after a bumpy start, I handled it beautifully.)💪🏽💗
My core beliefs, like everyone's core beliefs, are rooted in the way back of my early childhood.
However, even as those fears hold us back, we may eventually notice that a part of us wants to move forward.
Recently, I noticed my desire for adventure was outgrowing those old beliefs.
The tricky thing about beliefs is that we can't just decide to take on a new one.
🏈Fear is playing a strong defense and will block us at every turn.
So we have to show fear that it's safe.
We do that by TESTING our old belief with a small step into the territory we've been resisting.
I had suggested to my son that visit 🎺 New Orleans more than once over the past few years.
And last week we did it.
A friend and her son had already purchased tickets and a hotel, and we joined their bandwagon.
Once I was there, we struck out on our own to test my fear (He seemed to have no fear at all!).
I got us to a museum and a Raw Bar dinner. 🦪 We ate many Beignets.
He got to have time with his buddy and we both bumped into "old" friends.
It was so much fun! 🎉
Test results?
A+ I found proof that something else was more true than what I believed before.
Courage takes many shapes.
While I am courageous in certain departments, I am not so in others.
And the thing to know is that we can change.
So if you wish you were more risk-tolerant in a certain area of your life - maybe it's time to unlock that fear and test the assumption beneath it.
Make your first test small and safe-enough so that you'll go through with it!
Having a friend along with her son, made it possible for me to take mine.
Let me know what you think!
Warmly and with courage to create,
Naomi
P.S. Want to find out what new belief is hiding behind your fears? 💪🏽💗 Let's chat!!!
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