Take Risks and Inspire Your Life

Looking back at your life, are there any areas where you felt you could have been more brave? Are there times when you wished you trusted yourself more? Said the the things you wanted to? Had taken more risks? I totally know that feeling and have definitely held myself back when I wanted to share more, be more brave and show up.

We often know what we want to do and where we want to go in our lives, but we hold ourselves back because we don’t want to put ourselves out there – we don’t want to take risks. When we don’t know how others will receive us or how we will receive ourselves with this “new” path, we stop ourselves from fully shining!

We are afraid of failing.

When we assess the outcome, we imagine the worst. The most dramatic finale to our life and situation. When in reality, the odds of “it” working out are really quite high!

We also underestimate our ability to take care of ourselves if and when “it” fails. When, in fact, we ALWAYS show up when things don’t work out! { We are such drama queens really. }

And the final piece of this is we think our situation will change for the better whether we take the path our heart longs for or not. We dismiss the real reward of trusting ourselves and the energy of showing up – as there is palpable reward and love for oneself when we trust our guts.

Here are three questions from author of Stop Playing Safe, Margie Warrell, that will stir you on your path:

What would I do if I were being more courageous?
How will inaction cost me one year from now if I do nothing?
Where is my fear of failure causing me to over-estimate the size of risk, under-estimate myself and holding me back from taking risks that would serve me (my business etc)?
If you are struggling for motivation. Create some on your own with this prompts:

Wake early. Get up before the sun rises and do some writing, meditate, or go for a run.

Dress in your best. Wear your favorite outfit for your day at work or for the long walk or when you meet your friend for tea. Look your best for YOU!

Listen to your favorite song. Turn up the volume on that shit! 🙂

Buy fresh flowers. They don’t need to be the most expensive kind. Something pretty to look at for YOU!

Stare off into space. For a little, simply get lost in dreamy thoughts.

Try something new. Play bingo, sign up for a different kind of group exercise class and chat with someone new while waiting in line somewhere! Everyone is interesting!

Listen to a TedTalk. Try listening to the TedRadio Hour on NPR for inspirational tidbits about life and how people keep rising and tinkering and growing. The ordinary do the extraordinary. This one on Love was my recent favorite.

Make travel plans. Get out of the city to a local town, to another state or to another country. Get out of your comfort zone!

Write a love letter to yourself. Take 10-20 minutes to write a little to yourself.

Take risks, love yourself and show up!

Namaste.