I was listening to something today and one of the points made was this question. Are you afraid or excited? It seems the two are very similar in how your body reacts.
When change comes into our lives we can be afraid or we can be excited. When we decide to adapt a new hobby we can be afraid we will make a fool of ourselves, or excited about learning and enjoying something new. When we decide to accept a challenge we can be afraid at failing or excited to take part and achieve far more than we thought we could.
I remember I had wanted to run a marathon for the longest time. But, frankly, I do not have a runners body, and running any distance was not my favourite thing to do. But after being alive and thinking about this for 39 years I decided I would run a marathon. I was worried I would not finish, I would hit the wall and have to drop out. I entered the forms and was accepted. I started training and it was a particularly hot year, many long runs got cut short due to exhaustion and overheating. But, on the day of the Marathon in Philadelphia I was ready. I was excited, even though it was a really warm November day, up in the 70's I realized I had trained all year in hot weather even if I had never run the whole distance. I ended up starting with people aiming for 10 minute miles which had been my average pace, although my plan had been to run at a 12 minute pace. For 19 miles all went well, I stayed with my group then it happened, my legs locked up and I could hardly move, let alone run. I pushed on and walking and jogging to the end I made it to the finish line. Those last miles took almost as long as the 19 but I was so excited to have completed that run.
When I decided to walk a Camino from Lisbon to Santiago de Compostela I was really excited, till the morning I woke up in Portugal, in the dark and it hit me just how far I was going to have to walk. I wondered how I had allowed myself to have such a crazy idea to walk alone all that way. But, then I began and I saw the sunrise, I saw a city coming alive, I saw a river flowing by, I saw sights and sounds, birds and animals and flowers that amazed me and my excitement returned. I saw a lot of variety all the way to Santiago de Compostela and then even further out to Finisterra. I met amazing interesting people from all over the world. And I discovered I could do it, bit by bit, day by day even on those days of frustration I made it through.
What are you facing today that frightens you, is it a loss of a loved one, a new way of having to do business, moving to a new town, a broken relationship? Can you look at it differently with excitement, seeing the challenge, but not allowing it to overwhelm you but lift you up. To see whatever it is in a new light and think about how in five years when you look back you will say to yourself, I handled that well or I did that well, or here I am in this fabulous new relationship, or I lost this loved one, but I had so many good memories to hold on to to lift me to the light when the darkness of grief closed in that I am grateful for the love and the life I shared with that person.
So, are you afraid or excited? You decide!
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