I walked into the bank and paused. I took two deep breaths and knew that if I wasn’t on auto-pilot I would have walked right out of that branch office.
I was there to get a bank check for the largest amount of money I’ve dropped at any one time to date: the closing costs for the mortgage on my house.
I was buying a house on my own for the first time.
Hell, I hadn’t even paid that much money to my divorce lawyer!
I was scared — no wait, terrified — to withdraw that much money from savings.
So terrified that up until I walked into the bank that day and took those deep breaths, I kept rationalizing that if I backed out all I would lose was the deposit. Which was a significant amount, but not nearly as much as what I was getting that bank check for.
That pause was instrumental in me crushing my fear.
In that moment of pause, I allowed myself to feel the chaos swirling within, I allowed myself to witness the negative, limiting self-talk statements that were running rampant: “You’ll never get that much in savings again.” “What are you doing buying a house on your own?” “What if you can’t really afford it?”
I have that amount back in savings, I’m kicking ass owning this house, and I can in fact afford it. But I had to do the thing I feared to show myself that the fear was unfounded.
Crushing your fears requires you to sit with uncomfortable feelings.
That’s why so many of us let fear win.
We forget that it’s just a matter of being present with uncomfortable feelings and still keeping our focus on our goal.
My goal was to buy this house. My pretty house, as I lovingly refer to it. I focused so powerfully on reaching that goal that I was willing to sit with every uncomfortable feeling fear brought up, let it be what it was, and release it.
What situation can you apply this to? Leave a comment and let me know, and let me know how I can help.
With love,
Melissa
P.S. If you’re looking for concrete tools to use to help you overcome anxiety, I’ve got you covered!