Sometimes we make things waaaaaayyy too hard when they don’t need to be. We set expectations for ourselves that are out of proportion or get all perfectionist when life is anything but. So then we have to work twice as hard to get over our fear our anxiety just to do the thing or achieve the goal if we even try at all. The easiest way to convince yourself not to try and do something is to make it look like climbing Mount Everest. Unless you’re into climbing and Mount Everest and then that’s a bad example. But you get what I’m saying.
To get off that hamster wheel of wanting to do something and then convincing yourself you can’t because it’s too hard or too scary set the bar low. Take things on literal step at a time. Want to start sky diving, find out if there is a place where they teach that. Yep, the bar can be that low. If you do that you win! Then the next bar is to goto that place. Just that. Go there. If you actually walk in and talk with someone, you get extra credit. You can feel very successful and walk away proud of yourself. Perhaps you do that several times over the next week. It’s not stalkerish and it’s not actually weird. Believe me, they’ve seen and dealt with weirder. Talk with them about parachutes, about planes, about the weather, the point being to get accustomed to the place so that the gear and the people and the smells and the sounds are now ‘normal’ to you and don’t cause you fear. Then, when you’re ready, take a class. Perhaps you can even talk with the instructor about not going up on your first class. Bet they’ve heard and dealt with that too. Set the bar low and build up your confidence by getting over it one bar at a time.
By the time you get to that final hurdle it really will be just another low bar and you’ll have the confidence to get over it with ease. And you’ll have learned how to get yourself through new challenges without making them so very hard on yourself. Eventually you might actually be living the live of joy you were meant to live without feeling like it’s an effort at all. Heck, you might even check into climbing Mount Everest. Because nothing is too challenging for you anymore, right?
