Overinflated Fears

Yesterday I caught the train to work - it was something really quite minor in the scheme of things.

Friends commented on the fact that they wouldn't know where to begin with catching a train because it's been so long since they did. Hence they would never dream of doing it.

The thing is, at the age of 15 I flew to the United States alone, it was my first time on a plane and I did it alone. I flew from Adelaide to Sydney and then got on a flight from Sydney to LA with an hour stop over in Honolulu.

Then through customs and onto a connecting flight to Portland, Oregon where my grandparents met me at the airport. Now that was big! So a little bus ride across town in down town Adelaide is nothing.

For the record be wary when the airline tell you that your child as an unaccompanied minor will be looked after on their flight across the world. The reality is I survived the flight and did what needed to be done - in fact I was less scared doing that than getting on a silly little train.

Why? - I have no idea. What's the worst that could have happened, maybe I'd be late for work, get on the wrong train. No the absolute worst thing - do something stupid and look like a fool in front of people who know what they're doing.

Safety is pretty well fail safe on train platforms these days - barring someone throwing you in front of a moving train which isn't really a common occurence in Adelaide. The only thing to be scared of is the unknown and / or doing something wrong. No threat to life or limb though.

How often do we blow challenges and dreams out of all proportion and make them bigger than they really are? Our fear makes them seem like these big insurmountable things and the reality is most of their size and threat is purely in our minds.

It's possible to buy glasses which enlarge things and magnify them. I need glasses which reduce things and minimise them, namely my fears. I can't even believe how dumb my fear sounds now and I don't usually scare easily. I've overcome fear of public speaking, I've tackled going back to school and then on to uni, there's numerous things I've achieved in my life.

I've faced down some big and downright ugly fears, yet I feel I've lost some of my punch lately. I'm going searching for some of those minimising glasses because I have a lot of things in my life still to accomplish which need to look less intimidating.

What about you?

Cheers, Fi

The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure