ONE YEAR AGO, my husband and I JUMPED OUT OF AN AIRPLANE! It was an amazing experience. I think of it often. What I can tell you is Fear can Stop you or Propel You…the choice is yours! Today I want to share with you our day of skydiving last year and how you can push past fear!
For my birthday last year, I could not for the life of me come up with an idea of what gift I wanted. Finally I figured it out and told him I wanted a “Rain Check”. Our birthdays are within 8 days of each other and our anniversary falls in that week as well, so it is a pretty busy time. This particular year, I had three speaking engagements and my husband had his book launch and two events as well…needless to say, there was way too much going on and the idea of a rain check was a great idea!
Two days after my birthday I get a phone call from my husband. As I answer it, he is all excited and blurts out, “I have decided what to purchase with your rain check for your birthday!” I am like, “Ok, what are you thinking?” He then says with all the confidence in the world, “I am going to send you Skydiving!” The immediate thought in my head was: WHAT?!!! But what came out of my mouth was, “Are you NUTS? Why would I EVER jump out of a perfectly good working airplane?”
My husband explained how he thought it would be amazing, even though he had never had a desire to skydive before, look how we could PUSH PAST OUR FEARS AND ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING!
You need to know; currently I did not feel like I was in fear! But to top that off, we had gone through a lot of really hard, scary things when we had huge fear, like our son having cancer or adopting a child, major head surgeries, losing loved ones, being business investors and even starting our own businesses and being entrepreneurs.
Have any of you faced fear? Have you had some really tough challenges or even wanted to do something that forced you to face your fears?
Then, being the smart person that I am, I told him, “Wait. I have pushed past my fears before, LOTS of times. I have done high-end ropes courses. I have zip lined one of the highest zip lines in Mexico across water. I have parasailed behind a boat at Lake Powell; in fact I have even walked on Fire! I do not need to jump out of a plane to push past fear!
Later, after thinking he was crazy and I would show him how crazy this was, I found this amazing picture of someone “Pushing” someone else out of an airplane. I typed up the whole birthday rain check story and posted it with the picture on Facebook. In less than one minute, a female classmate jumps on and loves it, then comments, “Do it!! I did it last year and LOVED it!” Then posts pictures of her skydiving in Hawaii! Within 5 minutes I have over 50 likes and about 25 comments. Most saying, Do IT! Of course there were those that said, “Are you crazy?” Over the next couple hours this post grew to about 300 likes, some shares and way too many comments!
What I know from doing several high end Ropes Courses, Zip lining, parasailing, even walking on Fire is the BEST things in life are just beyond your FEAR!
As I contemplated, “Why am I in resistance to Skydiving?” I asked myself this question; “Are my reasons for not doing this, just excuses to disguise my fear?” I knew then, it was my time to go Skydiving!
Let me ask you this? “Are your reasons for not taking action in your life, just excuses to disguise your fear?”
How is your fear showing up for you?
What is your fear stopping you from achieving?
Is it time for you to push past the fear in your life?
Fear can stop you, or propel you! The choice is yours!
The video today is our complete skydiving experience! We take you with us for the entire journey! Was there fear? Of course….jumping out of a plane at 2 ½ miles above the earth can be a bit nerve racking, But it was BEAUTIFUL. EXCITING, FUN, EXTRAORDINARY, EXCEPTIONAL, AMAZING AND LIFE CHANGING! Our fear shows up for each of us in different ways. How we choose to deal with it is totally and completely up to us! The tricky part to this entire thing is to be able to recognize when it is fear that is holding you back.
There is an element within all of us that wants to ignore that it could be fear and we disguise it as something else, like shyness, embarrassment, self-consciousness, awkwardness, lack of knowledge, lack of self-confidence, anxiety, depression, nervousness, the unknown or a hundred other things. What does it look like for you?
Each time it can show up differently for each person and for each situation. The key is to get to know yourself well enough to know when you are coming from a space of fear and it is stopping you from progressing.
Fear was given to us as a protection. It is there for us in that “fight or flight” time when adrenaline needs to kick in to save your life, or the life of someone close to us. It was not supposed to keep us from achieving our goals or starting a business or not allow us to be all that we were born to be.
Our world has created a way for us to feel that we must fit in and do things a certain way and to look for outside approval, when in reality we get to look within ourselves to strive to be our very best. We get to allow ourselves the opportunity to shine, be heard, accomplish and thrive! We get to stop holding ourselves back and living in comparison. We get to forge forward in a huge way, embracing our own unique gifts and talents and owning our truth.
It is time for you to push past your fear in a way that forges you forward in a huge way. Is that skydiving for you? Perhaps that is a question for you to ponder, but I do know that there are hundreds of ways for you to push through fear and the best one for you is the one that is right in front of you. What is stopping you right now and getting in your way? Push through that one and then move on to the next one!
Fear Can Stop You or Propel You…..the Choice is Yours! ~Kris Barney
For my birthday last year, I could not for the life of me come up with an idea of what gift I wanted. Finally I figured it out and told him I wanted a “Rain Check”. Our birthdays are within 8 days of each other and our anniversary falls in that week as well, so it is a pretty busy time. This particular year, I had three speaking engagements and my husband had his book launch and two events as well…needless to say, there was way too much going on and the idea of a rain check was a great idea!
You need to know; currently I did not feel like I was in fear! But to top that off, we had gone through a lot of really hard, scary things when we had huge fear, like our son having cancer or adopting a child, major head surgeries, losing loved ones, being business investors and even starting our own businesses and being entrepreneurs.
less than one minute, a female classmate jumps on and loves it, then comments, “Do it!! I did it last year and LOVED it!” Then posts pictures of her skydiving in Hawaii! Within 5 minutes I have over 50 likes and about 25 comments. Most saying, Do IT! Of course there were those that said, “Are you crazy?” Over the next couple hours this post grew to about 300 likes, some shares and way too many comments!
The video today is our complete skydiving experience! We take you with us for the entire journey! Was there fear? Of course….jumping out of a plane at 2 ½ miles above the earth can be a bit nerve racking, But it was BEAUTIFUL. EXCITING, FUN, EXTRAORDINARY, EXCEPTIONAL, AMAZING AND LIFE CHANGING! Our fear shows up for each of us in different ways. How we choose to deal with it is totally and completely up to us! The tricky part to this entire thing is to be able to recognize when it is fear that is holding you back.
Our world has created a way for us to feel that we must fit in and do things a certain way and to look for outside approval, when in reality we get to look within ourselves to strive to be our very best. We get to allow ourselves the opportunity to shine, be heard, accomplish and thrive! We get to stop holding ourselves back and living in comparison. We get to forge forward in a huge way, embracing our own unique gifts and talents and owning our truth.