I have talked about courage and fear going hand in hand. Then I spoke about trusting your gut.
How are these things different?
Fear comes to the surface, it is obvious. You need to react immediately to the danger signals you are feeling. It can’t be ignored. You either cut and run or face the fear with courage.
I have a 100 year old house with a large basement. I have found snake skins in the basement. This is actually a good thing. These are black snakes. They keep the mouse population down and I don’t see them much.
One day I was doing a project and I needed some tools so I ran down the steps. As I got near the bottom there was a baby rat snake. At first when I saw the snake I reacted with fear. I ran back up the stairs. My brain sees snake and it is trained to alert me. Once I stopped and reminded myself that the snake was harmless I was able to go back down stairs and get the tools I needed.
That is fear and courage playing together. Fear is your brain protecting you from danger.
Fear is very different than feeling your gut. Your gut speaks in a different way. Your whole body feels off. It is one of those things where you know something isn’t right you just might not be able to pinpoint it. It is uncomfortable but it can be ignored.
The gut reaction is a nagging feeling that something isn’t right. Remember the feeling when you didn’t study for a test. Or you waited until the last minute to start a term paper. Those feelings are in your gut. It isn’t a quick reaction it is deeper and lasts longer.
Trusting your gut is all about recognizing the feeling and figuring out what it is trying to tell you. It can happen at any time. We tend to ignore it since it isn’t fear and doesn’t necessarily need an immediate change.
In Tuesday Tip #79 I talked about how I felt before changing careers. I liked film production but I knew that I was finished because of how I felt when I got in the car to head to Atlanta for a job. It wasn’t a horrible feeling, it just didn’t feel good. I didn’t want to just tolerate my life. I wanted to be energized.
As a coach, I feel energized after each call. I love that I am helping people have better lives. I am helping people act on that nagging gut feeling of needing to do something else. I want people to feel happy and energized at work too.
Why? Because happy people are better citizens of the world. Which satisfies my ultimate goal of making the world a better place.
It wasn’t fear that made me want to change my career it was my gut telling me I wasn’t doing the right thing.
Making the change is when the fear came in. That is a feeling I am familiar with because of the all the changes I have made in the past. I know that each day I need to muster the courage to keep moving toward my goals.
I have had help along the way. Having a support system has made it all possible.
When my courage wanes I have someone catching me as I fall and then pushing me up to new heights and helping me see other possibilities.
It is hard to make a change. Our brain thinks making the change is scary.
I am here to help you find out what’s next and get you on your next path.
Sign up for a free consultation call at my website lesleykingempower.com