Becoming Good Friends with Fear

Fear and I have been acquaintances for some time, but I only recently decided to become good friends with fear. In 2014 I was laid off from my day job. After much reflection, I decided to pursue a path that was both new and frightening to me.

I gave away most of my material goods and boarded a plane for Europe intending to stay at least a year. My first stop in Paris for a month was my only plan. I was in the midst of working on my non-fiction book Shift Into Thrive: Six Strategies for Women to Unlock the Power of Resiliency and learning to practice what I preached.

While some think I took a nice, long vacation, it was a terrifying move for me. I left everything I had known for most of my life behind and embarked on a journey to explore the world and myself, not knowing when I would return, or what would be waiting for me when I did. I took myself way out of my comfort zone, embraced my fears, and moved from surviving to thriving. Because of that experience, I now know that I am capable of far more than I ever imagined.

Thriving is an intentional choice. When you encounter challenges and adversity, big or small, you typically move into a state of decline. Decline is a negative state of mind. You might experience negative self-talk, anxiety, and low self-esteem. How long you stay in decline will usually vary based on your resilience, or your ability to recover quickly from difficulties. At some point in time, you will move from decline to survive.

Survive is who you were and where you were before the challenging event happened. Life is back to how it was, often with the same issues and challenges. To move from surviving to thriving requires intentionally implementing resilience practices for you to learn, grow, and transform. Thriving requires getting out of your comfort zone and embracing your fears.

Fear is not a feeling to avoid, and I’m not referring to the fear you feel if your life is in danger. I’m referring to the fear you feel when you need to get uncomfortable to learn and grow. The desired state is not the absence of fear. If you are not experiencing fear you are probably comfortable, but possibly miserable. Life is too short to be miserable. A quote by the novelist Cheryl Strayed sums it up nicely, “Hello fear. Thank you for being here. You’re my indication that I’m doing what I need to do.”    

You can proactively implement actions that help you thrive, or when necessary perform the actions reactively. Of course, I recommend being proactive. My new book Thriving from A to Z: Best Practices to Increase Resilience, Satisfaction, and Success provides twenty-six best practices proven to help people face their fears, overcome them, and thrive. Each chapter provides an overview of one of the twenty-six best practices, tips for implementing, and reflection activities. Journal pages allow you to take notes as you read and create your plan to thrive. The book is twenty-six books all rolled into one and condensed into bite-size pieces for an easy to read and apply format.

I wrote Thriving from A to Z to make it easy for anyone to learn what it takes to be resilient, overcome their fears, and apply the concepts to create a life filled with greater satisfaction and success. The twenty-six best practices in the book come from my previous research and experience, as well as asking others for their ideas. When I started the additional research for the book, I posted this question to several thousand people on global social media sites: “What’s the one word that describes the most important action(s) you take to build resilience?” Then I reviewed all those actions, compared them to my previous research on resilience and thriving, and selected the twenty-six best practices.

Creating the book helped me gain a better sense of the twenty-six best practices individually and holistically as they can be integrated for optimum results. I better understand how they help a person thrive, separately and together. Now I think about the best practices all the time. Each best practice represents a letter of the alphabet, hence A to Z, so when I’m talking to friends or when I’m coaching someone, I’m always referring to one or more of the best practices. I’m more conscious now of what I need to do to embrace my fears and continue to thrive. This enables me to continue to learn, grow, and transform.

The symbolism of the sunflower mandala on the cover and journal pages of Thriving from A to Z speaks to my purpose for writing the book. A mandala is a spiritual symbol, and its purpose is to help transform ordinary minds into enlightened ones and to assist with transformation. Its circle design alludes to wholeness or completeness. A sunflower adds the symbolism of joy, energy, renewal, and longevity to the mandala. The audience for the book is individuals seeking wholeness and desiring to thrive. I hope the book enlightens and transforms those who read it and apply the concepts. I wish those who embrace their fears and thrive a journey full of joy.

Thriving from A to Z: Best Practices to Increase Resilience, Satisfaction, and Success is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and can be ordered by your local bookstores. Learn more at https://bit.ly/ThrivingAtoZ

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Dr. Lynn Schmidt is an expert in the field of leadership development and an executive coach. She focuses on assisting men and women in creating careers accompanied by growth and success. Lynn is an award-winning author of five books. Her fourth book, Shift Into Thrive: Six Strategies for Women to Unlock the Power of Resiliency won six literary awards and is listed in Inc.com as one of the top 60 books about leadership and business written by women.

Her most recent book, Thriving from A to Z: Best Practices to Increase Resilience, Satisfaction, and Success is now available wherever books are sold. Lynn currently resides in Boise, Idaho, USA and enjoys spending time in the outdoors hiking and walking her two Shetland Sheepdogs. She loves to travel and explore the world. You can connect with her at Facebook (www.facebook.com/LynnSchmidtAuthor), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnschmidt), Twitter (@LM_Schmidt), and Instagram (@lynnmschmidt). You can learn more at her website www.schmidtleadership.com and contact her at lschmidt912@hotmail.com.

Thriving from A to Z: Best Practices to Increase Resilience, Satisfaction, and Success

Thriving from A to Z provides you with 26 best practices proven to help you learn, grow, and succeed. The essential best practices, valuable implementation tips, and engaging reflection activities help you build resilience and overcome challenges. The journal pages give you space to record your action steps. You’ll use the tips and activities daily to create a life filled with more satisfaction and success both personally and professionally.

The ability to thrive is not a given; it is an intentional choice. Choose to create your best self today. Thriving from A to Z delivers a straightforward pathway that everyone can follow to build resilience and thrive. Each letter from A to Z represents a best practice.

The information on the 26 best practices has been condensed in an easy to understand and apply format that allows you to close the gap between surviving and thriving. You’ll learn how to overcome your fears and get out of your comfort zone to create the life you deserve. You can also use the tips and activities to coach and mentor others.

Buy the book HERE

 

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips