“Don’t let your fears drive you. Know that you have control over them.” -Shirley Owens
Fear is innate in humans. It serves a purpose in keeping you safe in many situations. But when you allow fear to overtake and control you, it can completely derail you from who you can become and what you can create. Tune in as Shirley shares a sensible analogy to taking control of your fears! Don’t let fear drive you!
Highlights:
00:43 FEAR
02:40 Does Fear Drive You?
03:45 Let’s Be Fearless Together
Tweets:
Join the fearless movement! Join in as@SfbaldwinOwens illustrates how to drive away your fears. #getwhatyouwant #fear #driver #backseat #fearless
Quotes:
02:33 “Fear… keeps us safe on many different occasions but we don’t need to let it control us.” -Shirley Owens
03:29 “Don’t let your fears drive you. Know that you have control over them.” -Shirley Owens
Connect With Sidonie:
Sidonie Smith is an in-demand international stage actress, speaker, and violinist. As a multilingual leading lady, she has starred in hit musicals such as Sister Act and Jesus Christ Superstar for the past decade. Offstage, Sid is most proud of her work as a Mindset Mastery Coach for other theater artists, supporting them practically in their pursuits to become the strongest versions of themselves- mind, spirit, and body. Her transformational coaching courses guide artists to heal their hearts in order to create great art.
Transcriptions
Shirley Owens: Hello and welcome back. I'm reflecting today on my convo with Sidonie Smith. We talked about stage fright, which led us to talk about fear. Fear is something we are all living with to some extent. Right now, fear is something I've lived with my entire life. Sometimes it was fear of my parents dying or leaving, or fear of our family having to pack up and move away again, or making new friends. When we did move, I had fear of kidnappers, lightning, night. As I grew older, I had fear of failing in relationships, which I did plenty of. I feared losing my own children, and honestly of losing my mind entirely. But each step of the way, I found ways to conquer my fears. I remember as a kid, I would pile up stuffed animals around my head after seeing the movie ET, thinking that whatever I was afraid of wouldn't be able to see me in that pile. I remember talking myself through anxiety attacks. Heck, I actually still do that sometimes. I remember when my kids were young, not wanting them to have fear, so I would purposefully take them outside everytime it stormed to play in it. And now, I actually love storms. The more I learn about humans and how we act and react towards things, the more I'm able to get past my fears. Do they still come up? For sure. Do I still default to giving into them? Sometimes, but at some point I started visualizing my fears as something outside of me trying to control me and then I became stronger at fighting against them. And even sometimes grateful for them. Fears do service on occasion. They keep us safe in many different situations, but we don't need to let them control us.
Sidonie mentioned visualizing your fear in your hand and then rolling it up in a little ball and flicking it away. I liked that. In fact, I was thinking about how you could blow it away. I remember hearing this one somewhere, but I always add my own little twist to it and it's made a huge difference for me, that is to picture your fear in the car with you. Is it driving? Or is it a passenger? Can you move it out of the front seat and make it sit in the back? I like to think about my fear, show it gratitude and then ask it kindly to get in the backseat. Once I'm driving, that fear becomes way smaller and has no control over me.
This week, I would have you be aware of what you're fearing. Think about what it is? Why do you have it? Be grateful for whatever purpose it has served and then kindly haven't moved to the backseat. Try this for a week. Don't let your fears drive you. Know that you really do have control over them. I'm going to join you in this one, actually. Let's be fearless together and know our worth. I love you all. Have an amazing and fearless week, I will see you on Tuesday.