Hey Liz, this chapter on fear is so well articulated. You are well on your way to becoming the writer you were destined to be! 👏🏼👏🏼
Thank you again for being vulnerable and open to sharing your truth with all of us. It's inspiring and infact I AM going to share excerpts from this piece as this rings true for a lot of my clients too! ✌️
To answer the questions you posed - What scares me is my greatness. I have been told all my life that I have greatness within me and although I repeated this to myself over the years as affirmations, it's only in the last 2 years I've actually felt the true power within. And boy is it mammoth! But I'm working on complete acceptance.
On reflection, the 1st time I left my country permanently was out of fear (and anger). I was afraid to face my feelings of rejection having had a couple of failed serious relationships. I had also discovered I'd been taken advantage of by my employer at the time, the BBC, who I'd given everything to. I was afraid to take them to court so I resigned instead and got on a plane to Japan.
I've only just overcome the fear of not being OK on my own terms when big things seemingly go south. So it's only since 2020 that I've stopped feeling the need to escape to another continent when things in the UK get tough. What's different? I'm older, have gained a certain kind of wisdom through therapy and meditation and have learned how to ground myself amidst the chaos. For me, the solution to getting over our fears is intentional and is absolutely linked to understanding our purpose.
Gamu, thank you for this comment and thank you for your honesty and vulnerability. I knew that due to the nature of my post I would probably not get heaps of comments. That makes the comments that are appearing worth their weight in gold. Yours brought tears to my eyes. Firstly, to feel you embrace your power moves me deeply. I've always felt your power and I'm blessed to witness you fully accept and embrace it. Secondly, I first met you in Japan after you left BBC. I remember you mentioning that you had quit in dissatisfaction, but I never pushed or questioned deeply. It's emotional to start connecting the dots of who you are. Yes to the therapy and meditation! I don't know where I would be without them. I also believe you're right about understanding your purpose. Thank you for the work you do to be the best version of yourself possible. As you work past your fears and challenges, you hold space for us all to do the same. I am grateful to call you a friend.
I cannot think of a time that I wasn't afraid of something. My earliest memories are being afraid of the dark and bad dreams. I am glad that the answer my mother always gave me when I would wake her up to tell her I had a nightmare, was to lead me back to bed and then pray with me. That would usually be the end of it. However, I continued to wake my younger sister up to walk across the hall with me to the bathroom. She was 5 years younger than me so this must have happened until I was 8-10 years old. Isn't that crazy? I could go on and on about the things, both real and imagined, that I am afraid of, but you have listed a lot of them. This is, after all, your story not mine.
Thank you for sharing this. I love knowing how your mother helped calm you with prayer. After reading her book (which I still have!) I am not surprised to hear how she guided you. Leila struggles a lot with being too scared to go to bed at night. I pray with her, I sing to her, I put fairy lights in her room, and sometimes I just have to be a bit tough with her because I need my sleep too. It's actually really helpful to hear about other people's fears because I spent so much time struggling with my own that I started to believe I was the only person who was scared of anything. Cheers to fear and cheers to learning through the fear!
Hey Liz, this chapter on fear is so well articulated. You are well on your way to becoming the writer you were destined to be! 👏🏼👏🏼
Thank you again for being vulnerable and open to sharing your truth with all of us. It's inspiring and infact I AM going to share excerpts from this piece as this rings true for a lot of my clients too! ✌️
To answer the questions you posed - What scares me is my greatness. I have been told all my life that I have greatness within me and although I repeated this to myself over the years as affirmations, it's only in the last 2 years I've actually felt the true power within. And boy is it mammoth! But I'm working on complete acceptance.
On reflection, the 1st time I left my country permanently was out of fear (and anger). I was afraid to face my feelings of rejection having had a couple of failed serious relationships. I had also discovered I'd been taken advantage of by my employer at the time, the BBC, who I'd given everything to. I was afraid to take them to court so I resigned instead and got on a plane to Japan.
I've only just overcome the fear of not being OK on my own terms when big things seemingly go south. So it's only since 2020 that I've stopped feeling the need to escape to another continent when things in the UK get tough. What's different? I'm older, have gained a certain kind of wisdom through therapy and meditation and have learned how to ground myself amidst the chaos. For me, the solution to getting over our fears is intentional and is absolutely linked to understanding our purpose.
Love you x
Gamu, thank you for this comment and thank you for your honesty and vulnerability. I knew that due to the nature of my post I would probably not get heaps of comments. That makes the comments that are appearing worth their weight in gold. Yours brought tears to my eyes. Firstly, to feel you embrace your power moves me deeply. I've always felt your power and I'm blessed to witness you fully accept and embrace it. Secondly, I first met you in Japan after you left BBC. I remember you mentioning that you had quit in dissatisfaction, but I never pushed or questioned deeply. It's emotional to start connecting the dots of who you are. Yes to the therapy and meditation! I don't know where I would be without them. I also believe you're right about understanding your purpose. Thank you for the work you do to be the best version of yourself possible. As you work past your fears and challenges, you hold space for us all to do the same. I am grateful to call you a friend.
I cannot think of a time that I wasn't afraid of something. My earliest memories are being afraid of the dark and bad dreams. I am glad that the answer my mother always gave me when I would wake her up to tell her I had a nightmare, was to lead me back to bed and then pray with me. That would usually be the end of it. However, I continued to wake my younger sister up to walk across the hall with me to the bathroom. She was 5 years younger than me so this must have happened until I was 8-10 years old. Isn't that crazy? I could go on and on about the things, both real and imagined, that I am afraid of, but you have listed a lot of them. This is, after all, your story not mine.
Thank you for sharing this. I love knowing how your mother helped calm you with prayer. After reading her book (which I still have!) I am not surprised to hear how she guided you. Leila struggles a lot with being too scared to go to bed at night. I pray with her, I sing to her, I put fairy lights in her room, and sometimes I just have to be a bit tough with her because I need my sleep too. It's actually really helpful to hear about other people's fears because I spent so much time struggling with my own that I started to believe I was the only person who was scared of anything. Cheers to fear and cheers to learning through the fear!